


Love and Duty Hand in Hand

by AlyssAlenko, PyroQueenOfFire



Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Also Milady might be in this more than originally planned, And a LOT of themes, And lots and LOTS of family themes, And that miscarriage happens, As does birth of children, As in Anne and Louis will get their shit together, At some point this story will become rather domestic with some forks in the road for all couples, Definitely a romance so even though this is plot driven...there is love and sex in abundance, Definitely lots of death, F/M, I have watched this show way too much and it shows in this okay?, It is also probably imperative that I warn that there are miscarriage mentions, Lots of Angst, Mainly because author loves everyone but d'Artagnan, Maybe a little more Aramis than Porthos and d'Artagnan, Mostly centered around the Athos romance, Mostly the show but definitely a bit of REAL history too, Multi, Of the blood related and not blood related kind because the Musketeers are family too, Some Fluff, The other musketeers are then focused on an equal amount to each other mostly, There is sex in here, Well at least loves d'Artagnan less than the others, and family bonding, i just want my babies to be happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-13 08:00:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 47,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16013702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssAlenko/pseuds/AlyssAlenko, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyroQueenOfFire/pseuds/PyroQueenOfFire
Summary: Born of noble French AND Spanish blood, Clara came to be Queen Anne's closest and most trusted lady in waiting, and moved with her to France when she married King Louis XIII. Adjusting to French Court was not what she found the most challenging...it was falling in love with a Musketeer, and making their two worlds one.





	1. Of Murder and Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show with a smidge of real history, not the books.

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**xXxXx**

The air in the castle felt stifling sometimes to those that weren’t used to it…or those that had to _grow_ used to it. Even after all these years being a lady in waiting for Queen Anne, Clara Bordeaux found that she was always looking for reasons to get outside of the castle walls. As a noble woman, she was expected to uphold certain traditions and ideals, but in this world sometimes those traditions were lost.

At a young age, she knew that her bloodline walked the fine line between French and Spanish, and it was _because_ of that bloodline and her parents’ status that she came to be with Anne. That her sister was in a good position…that they hadn’t lost as much as they could have when their parents had been murdered and everything went to their older brother, Nicolas. Now Marina, the youngest by only a couple of years, was doing quite well as a woman of the court, and Nicolas was a soldier.

It was through _him_ that they even knew the Musketeers.

The day that Clara and Athos had met, she was sitting with Anne in the gardens when he, Aramis, Porthos and Captain Treville had come to talk to the King. He was entertaining guests and Cardinal Richelieu, and she had looked up just in time to see him look at her. Because of his stance on marriage, he had never actually been one to fraternize, especially with someone of her high status, but their eyes locked for a few moments and when the corner of his mouth curved upwards, she found herself smiling back as well. A couple more stolen glances here and there, and soon they were bantering and eagerly hoping to see each other when duty called the Musketeers to the castle.

For years that had been going on, and Nicolas had been in the garrison, and Marina had developed quite the crush on Aramis. Though admittedly, she wasn’t impressed with the way that he seemed to bounce from one woman to the next with seemingly no cares in the world. He seemed to care more about careless fun than he cared about a woman’s standing, or about the morals they had grown up thinking they needed to uphold.

Didn’t stop them from not being married yet and needing to be.

Nicolas had been trying to set them up with good matches, but Clara at least didn’t seem interested in the idea at all. Instead she stole away secret moments with Athos, conversing with him rather closely in hushed tones in places where no one would see. The last thing that they needed was some sort of scandal, and he had made it clear from day one that he was not interested in marriage…so things between them had been strictly stolen kisses and some light groping here and there.  


Her purity had to remain intact.

It wasn’t until d’Artagnan was added to the mix, that the sexual tension between them had really mounted…at least it wasn’t until him that the sexual tension was covered by actual feelings. Visiting Athos in the jail cell and trying to come up with a way to get him out had made her realize how she felt about him. Made _him_ realize that she was so much more than just some handsy flirtation in the castle. Looking at those eyes of hers through the bars had told him all that he had needed to know: he was feeling things he’d thought he’d never felt before and she _loved_ him.

It was truly there, were their romance began.

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

When d’Artagnan had first come accusing Athos of murdering his father, Clara had found herself immediately voicing how she knew it couldn’t be true. Athos was known for drinking too much, but she knew that he would never murder someone in cold blood, or steal. That was not who he was, and not who the Musketeers were, and the fact that d’Artagnan was in her eyes spreading lies, put him on her list and she was incensed.

Out of the three Bordeauxs, Clara was the one whose blood ran the hottest when she was upset, and when she felt betrayed. Out of nowhere came this young man looking for blood, and Athos had been arrested and thrown into jail, awaiting a trial. She moved toward d’Artagnan, and Aramis had to stop her, Marina standing near Constance Bonacieux, who was her best friend.

“Clara, you cannot,” Aramis whispered to her, shaking his head as she looked at him.

As they had become friends with the men through their brother, they had all grown rather close, even if it was Nicolas that was closest because he too was a Musketeer. A Musketeer known as ‘Bordeaux’. They had been over to the manor many a time, and had even grown close to Nicolas’ fiancée, Odette Clermont, who they fully approved of. She was good friends with Clara and Marina, and would have been here at the gathering after the sword fight had she not been at home where she was supposed to be. Marina had only been in attendance because she and Constance had business together, and d’Artagnan had made himself Constance’s ‘problem’.

“I do not understand why you won’t let me pull a knife on him,” Clara said in a hushed tone, blushing and making a face at Aramis when he smirked. She didn’t think he was being particularly _cute_.

Taking a breath, Aramis found himself in the odd position of not being emotional. “Treville wouldn’t have taken him if he didn’t have to. We can’t kill the kid for a _mistake_.”

“ _You_ can’t,” Clara pointed out, but she knew this place she was at was because of her feelings for Athos…her head wasn’t on straight right now.

So, she nodded and took her leave, hurrying back to Anne in the castle because Athos was being taken to the king. He was being arrested for murder and robbery, and that was treason, especially if done by someone that was in as good with the king as the musketeers were supposed to be. They were in favor, something the Cardinal didn’t like, and when she got to the castle, Clara had to hold back so many emotions when she saw Anne.

“He didn’t do it,” Clara told her, nodding and trying not to cry when Anne hugged her. “I promise you he is being framed.”

“I believe you,” Anne whispered, pressing a kiss to her friend’s temple and then they had to take their place at court.

Listening to all of the accusations against Athos had Clara almost in tears, but as a lady in waiting to the _Queen of France_ , she was able to keep the tears in. It did not mean that her eyes weren’t on Athos the entire time, however, because they would not leave his face. So many slanders were being said against him, and she knew in her _bones_ that he was good person. A good _man_ , who would never be a part of all of these terrible things. He was being thrown into jail to be killed at dawn for atrocities that Clara was convinced he did not commit, and she wasn’t sure that she would be able to survive if he was ripped away from him before she could tell him how she truly felt about him. Even if that confession would scare them both…could she live with herself if he potentially died not knowing?

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

Knowing that her sister was with Anne because that was where she was supposed to be, Marina took the time to go with Constance back to her home with her husband and help to patch d’Artagnan up a little bit. He did need help, and Marina wanted some answers because the Musketeers were something her brother believed so deeply in, which in turn she and her sister believed in as well.

“You’re lucky we’re even patching you up,” Marina managed, looking up when Jacques-Michel Bonacieux came in.

He wanted to know who this man was and what he was doing there, Constance explaining that he’d come for room and board and that he was tied to the Musketeers. The man knew the Musketeers in many ways, mostly because of Marina, but this seemed a bit much. His wife was best friends with the woman, and she was a lady in waiting to the Queen, so he knew he had to be on his best behavior. Had to be on her good side—Marina loved that aspect of her reputation.

Even though she had Spanish blood, her father had been a well off, very powerful French Duke, and he had been in favor with King Louis and his father. He wasn’t quite the respect level as Treville with Louis, but he was in a slightly different circle. When he was murdered, his children were the talk of the courts and of the villages, and everyone knew how they were connected to the King and Queen.

“I have to know who killed my father,” d’Artagnan admitted as Constance wrapped a wound and Marina got some hot water to help to sterilize it.

Taking a deep breath, Marina nodded. “I understand the need because my father was also murdered, but you must take justice into account.”

“I couldn’t have said it better, Marina,” Nicolas said as he, Aramis and Porthos barged into the house, Jacques-Michel a little agitated now. “We need to clear Athos’ name, and you want to avenge your father. Take us to where you fought this so-called Musketeer when your father died.”

“Wait…right now?” Marina asked her brother, taking a deep breath. “How bad is it?”

Reaching to take his youngest sister’s hand, Nicolas tugged Marina with him, over to a corner of the room as d’Artagnan grabbed his things. “He is going to be executed at dawn, Marina. If we don’t figure this out, Athos is dead.”

Marina felt a lump form in her throat at the idea of losing Athos, but she knew that any feeling she was feeling, was magnified for Clara. She was falling in love with the man that she had all those stolen moments with, and Marina didn’t know what to do. She felt helpless, and she nodded as she swallowed, looking to Constance and then deciding she needed to go back to the castle. As long as d’Artagnan went with the Musketeers to try and clear Athos’ name, they had an extra person. They were all determined to get this done, for one reason or another.

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

Years being a Musketeer had made Nicolas so bonded to his soldier brothers that he felt as though he knew them inside and out. They had been there through the murder of his parents, through his training to be a Musketeer, and through his entire courtship of his fiancée. They were the brothers he never had, and he would stand by them no matter what.

Which is why they had brought d’Artagnan with them to try and uncover this conspiracy.

Finding the man that d’Artagnan had shot, they already noticed off the bat once d’Artagnan admitted he had only shot the man once, that something was off. Someone had killed the man so that he couldn’t talk, and Nicolas glanced around as Porthos looked the body in the hole over. With only one actual wound found, they knew there was more to this mystery, and they needed to find whomever was the responsible party for all of this murder and mayhem.

“We will find whomever murdered your father,” Nicolas promised d’Artagnan was the four moved toward the horses, Aramis in the lead, followed by Porthos and then the other two. “I know you still believe it to be Athos, but in the end, I am sure we will all find answers and peace. I cannot with good conscious believe that one of the best men that I know, turned like this.”

d’Artagnan looked at Nicolas and took a breath. “Even I can admit that something is strange.”

Even though he said it, Nicolas wasn’t sure that this was getting through to him, just how serious that this was for the rest of them. He had lost his father, and Nicolas felt for him, but Athos was like his brother. He was family to the others, and they knew that he was being dragged through the mud for a crime that he did not commit. It didn’t sit right with them and it would never sit right with them, so they were going to do whatever they had to, to make this right.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Sitting in the cell in the dungeon, Athos looked up when the priest came in to try and get his confession from him. As he had been sitting there, he had been thinking about all sorts of things. The woman he had loved before…the woman he felt so strongly that he loved now. It was hard to admit to himself in this moment that he could love Clara, and so much stronger than the one woman he’d loved before, but what else could he do here but think?

This could be the end, and he couldn’t lie to himself right now.

It made him start to tell the priest that a woman he had loved had died by his hand, and while the priest thought he meant something recent that he had been accused of, he could tell that Athos did not want to confess or repent, and he took his leave, Clara seeing him as he left. Their eyes met, and he wondered why she was here, but he continued to leave as Clara stepped closer to the cell that he was in. Athos had been married before and his wife had died, so Clara wondered if that was the woman that he meant. She supposed that was why he didn’t believe in marriage now, but she couldn’t believe he had actually _murdered_ her. That wasn’t who he was.

“You seem a little lonely in here,” Clara spoke up, dropping down to her knees, the skirt of her dress around her as a hand went to the bar of the cell.

Athos hadn’t expected Clara to come and see him, but their flirtatious relationship suggested that she was somewhat invested in him, in more than a friend way. They had come to be friends through her brother, and they had known each other now for years, but the flirting and the stolen kisses between them had cemented something else. It wasn’t supposed to get deep, and it wasn’t supposed to be serious, but he smiled a little and rested his hand on hers as she held the bar. Having her here made him a little calmer, but what did it mean? What did they do?

“If people see the Queen of France’s most coveted lady in waiting at the cell of a murderer, your reputation will be tarnished,” he told her, thumb running along her hand.

The sensation sent shivers down Clara’s spine and she shrugged her shoulders. “I believe in you. When your name is cleared, it will be nice to have someone point out that someone close to the King and Queen never doubted your allegiance to them and the people.”

“You are too optimistic,” Athos told her, slowly starting to pull his hand away, stopping when her other hand reached through the bars to grasp it.

Perhaps he hadn’t realized until right now just how much he needed this contact, but it was clear to him that Clara needed it. She was so attached to him and he didn’t want her to be because it meant that she would be hurt when he was gone, but if these were their final moments together, then he wanted this. He wanted to hold her hand for just a little while, and their fingers interlaced as their eyes locked, Clara smiling that smile at him that did him in every single time. It was then that he knew he was smitten, and as Clara opened up her mouth to try and say something clearly serious, Athos cut her off.

“Stay with me?” he asked her slowly, hating that he showed that weakness, but needing this little bit of comfort for just a moment. “For a moment longer before you return to the Queen?”

Smiling and nodding, Clara ran her thumb along his hand too. “I will stay as long as you want me to.”

Nodding, Athos let his eyes move away from her face for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to her as they sat there, separated by these bars. Would they ever be face to face in a more personal way again? Ever steal kisses and glances at a function where she was supposed to be entertaining suitors again? Why did the idea of her marrying bother him? Why did he care this much that whatever there could be between them might not be explored?

“Why do you think you don’t deserve to be saved?” Clara asked him slowly, bringing him out of his dark thoughts. “I overheard as I came in…”

Swallowing, Athos tried to figure out what to tell her. He kept so much of his past to himself and only told the others what he felt he had to, and yet Clara was different. If there was any sort of future here—and he still wasn’t sure it could be a _proper_ one—then she had to know. Had to know about the woman that he had loved before. He knew that Nicolas had told his sister about how he’d been married before, and so she had to have questions. Had to have thought up a whole number of scenarios she believed had led him here. Athos might not be able to face the whole truth, but he did know that he could at least give her a little more.

“Because I’m the reason that my wife is dead,” he admitted, not able to meet her eyes as he said it. His grip loosened on her hand, but she felt him pulling away and a part of him felt comforted that her grip on his hand only seemed to _tighten_ a little. “She was a spy…and I turned her in.”

The words made Clara nod a little, some pieces falling into place. “You’ve always been a man of duty.”

“Because my duty is the most important,” he admitted, feeling her grip loosen as he said it, and while there was a pang in his heart, it was probably best. Pushing her away would save them both some heartache and the sensible part of him knew that. “Love does not always prevail. In most cases it does not. A grim outlook, I suppose, but I have found it to be true.”

“As a soldier you would,” she told him slowly, bringing his hand closer to the bars so she could kiss his knuckles, taking a breath. “For what it is worth, however, I will pray for your soul even if you do not.”

For some reason, that meant _everything_ to him.

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

Trying to follow clues, the four young men came upon what appeared to be bodies in the snow, Porthos and Nicolas dismounting first, cursing when they saw it to be their fallen Musketeer brethren. Now they knew that whomever was pretending to be Musketeers, was doing just that: pretending. Which meant that d’Artagnan was wrong, and which meant they had to get more evidence to clear Athos and save him from death.

“They murdered them in their sleep and stripped them of their uniforms!” Porthos roared angrily, Nicolas saying a quiet prayer over the bodies.

Aramis moved to d’Artagnan and looked him in the eye. “Whoever did this, murdered your father as well. If you want justice, you need to help us find them.”

It was clear to Nicolas that d’Artagnan still wasn’t entirely convinced, but he didn’t have the history with any of them that Nicolas did. This was about making sure that Athos didn’t hang for a murder he did not commit, but for d’Artagnan? He was still being driven by a carnal desire to kill the man that slayed his father…and for him it could still be Athos. Athos could still have gone rogue in his mind, and Nicolas wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

When his own parents had been murdered, Nicolas had wanted revenge as well, finding some solace in the fact that it had been mostly solved. He knew that the Red Guard was involved somehow, but it was more than that and he was still searching. This new life that he had created was his way of trying to move forward, and so he had rebuilt. Found a new reason to exist…and then he had found Odette in all of it when he felt more like the man his parents would be proud of.

She had gotten so close with his sisters and hadn’t wanted to throw them out when she became woman of the house, instead helping him to try and make matches for them. Unlike so many other women in her position, the idea of being a Countess wasn’t met with a thirst for power. She was shy at times and incredibly honest and good, and Nicolas was madly in love with her. It didn’t hurt that she too was close to Aramis, Porthos and Athos, and if she believed they were good men, then they had to be. Her judge of character was far too good to not believe in it.

“We will find who did this,” Nicolas spoke up, moving to his horse. “You said you got that gold we found on the ground off of a Red Guard, Porthos? Let us begin there then, finding Dujon…”

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Clara didn’t know what to do, leaving Athos because they both knew she had to, and it wasn’t before she had stolen a kiss through the bars and told him she would see him again. The truth was, the others were cutting it close, and she was happy to see his sister come through the doors in the castle to her chambers. She needed to be able to sort through her thoughts, and her sister was one of the very few people that she could do that with. Out of the two, Marina was the most level headed, but right now they were both worried about Athos’ future…or potential lack thereof.

“When he is released, you aren’t going to do something stupid are you?” Marina asked her older sister, feeling as though she had to ask that question.

After all, her sister and Athos were both the kind that gave each other looks when they thought that no one was watching. Add to that, that her sister was clearly smitten with the man, and Marina worried that lines would get blurred. That Clara would forget that she was a proper lady of the court—Anne’s number one lady in waiting—and she would do something to tarnish her reputation. They may have all been convinced of Athos’ moral center, but he still drank too much and did not believe in marriage because of the way his life had gone before.

They didn’t know much about Athos’ past, except that he’d been married once before and he had said that his wife had died. It was what made Nicolas feel like Athos was somewhat safe, as he’d had to tell Aramis and Porthos outright that there would be no hitting on his sisters. However, knowing that Athos was a widower, he felt that the man would take care of his sisters and help him to help them to learn how to protect themselves. Little did he know, that the tortured, semi-grumpy man would be drawn to the hopeless romantic, warm, most loving of his sisters. Now Clara knew more of the truth, and it only endeared the man to her more.

“Are you asking me if I’m going to throw my virtue away?” Clara asked her sister as she sat next to her on the bed. “It wasn’t the first thought that came to my mind. I don’t like seeing him look so helpless though. Whatever happened with his late wife is really weighing heavily on him. I just want Nicolas to help the others find a way to get Athos off of the hook. I know he didn’t do what everyone says he did. He wouldn’t do that—no matter _how_ dark a past he might have that I don’t know about.”

Even liking him as much as she did, she knew that Nicolas and the other Musketeers knew Athos more than she did. He was secretive about a lot of his life, but she knew that he was also more straight forward with her than he was with any other woman. It was _Aramis_ that fraternized with most of the women, sometimes Porthos, but Athos had been wearing his pain on his sleeve and she understood that. His wife had died, and now there was more to it than that, wasn’t it? He believed that he had killed her, and she didn’t.

The woman had it coming as far as Clara was concerned.

“I just don’t want you to be rash,” Marina explained, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder.

It was hard to be daughters of a deceased Duke and Duchess, and sisters of a brother who was a Musketeer as well as a man that needed to take his Duke status and run with it. Musketeers were all men of various breeding, but Nicolas was different and Treville had known that when he was brought in. Had done it was a personal favor of their father, Duke Henri Bordeaux. Duchess Catalina Bordeaux was more than on board with her son learning how to defend himself, and it was moments like this, that Clara realized the real reason her parents had been alright with this: they knew something was wrong.  
Their murder was still very much unsolved.

“I am not being rash. I am simply _heartbroken_ ,” Clara admitted, taking a breath and kissing the top of her younger sister’s head. “I do not wish for him to die. Has Nicolas returned yet?”

“No, but he’ll probably go straight to the King when he does, so perhaps we should go and spend time with Anne?” Marina suggested, nodding when Clara seemed to like that idea. “Good. Come along.”

Giving a sad smile, Clara followed her sister and they found Anne sewing, clearly distraught as well. She and Louis had been having problems again because it was still hard for her to conceive. It was imperative that an heir be given to fully merge the two countries and she and Louis had been so distant and now this. She was always an advocate for Treville and the Musketeers, and now one was being held to be killed because he was being accused of such terrible things.

“Clara…” Anne said gently, smiling when Clara gave that fake smile and sat down next to her. Finding her old needlepoint, Clara started to stitch as Marina sat too, Anne reaching over to rest her hand on her friend’s. “Everything will work out, Clara. Believe me.”

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

“Here?” Nicolas asked Porthos as they made it to the tavern.

With a nod, Porthos marched angrily in while the others waited, coming out with a wounded Red Guard, Dujon, in tow. They put a bag over his head and took him to a different location, Nicolas, Aramis and Porthos standing over him, forcing him to his knees before they pulled the burlap bag off of his head and looked at him. Nicolas could see the fear in the man’s eyes, and he looked at his friends as they looked at him and then back to the man they were interrogating. This screamed the ‘Cardinal’, but they had to have some kind of proof to make _that_ kind of accusation.

“This is where we ask him what happened,” Aramis began.

“And he tells us that he has no idea what we are talking about,” Porthos added, the man nodding.

Nicolas nodded too, the Dujon looking at him now. “And then we hurt him, and he suddenly remembers murdering those men.”

“So why wait?” Porthos asked, all of them looking at the man, d’Artagnan standing a little ways off watching them. “Lets just hurt him now…”

Aramis knelt and looked the man in the eye. “That’s how it _could_ go, or we could just skip to the confession, saving you pain and us time.”

“I was just following orders,” Dujon blurted out at that.

Nicolas smiled a little when he said that, knowing that this intimidation was working fairly well already, and giving a nod. It was obvious the man was afraid of squealing even though he was afraid of him too, and he helped Porthos tie him to a post in the barn they were in as Aramis loaded a musket and explained that muskets weren’t that reliable. He was a great shot, but the gun itself could always fire at the wrong angle and kill the man anyway.

“Which would be unfortunate,” Nicolas said calmly, nodding a little, “He could hit a vital organ this close…but which one? How slow a death?”

Porthos laughed as Aramis pointed the gun at the man and got ready to aim, pulling the trigger and everyone breathing when Porthos said ‘bang’ by his ear. Aramis laughed and said he forgot the bullet, the man visibly terrified now. Red Guard or not, he didn’t want to die, and baiting him or not, he didn’t want to bet his life that they wouldn’t actually kill him. So as Aramis started to load it in, suddenly the man started talking.

“It was Captain Gaudet!” he said quickly, now not able to shut up. “He said he needed men for a special mission to steal the king’s letters, but then he went mad and killed them all. None of us knew it would be murder.”

d’Artagnan was suddenly up and grabbed the man by the face, looking him in the eye with anger flashing in his own. “Who killed my father? WHO?”

“Gaudet! It was Gaudet!” he said quickly, shaking his head. “Please. I’m not like him. I’m not a killer. I’m a soldier, like you.”

Grabbing his throat at that, Porthos shook his head, the four making the guard take them to where Gaudet was so that they could get the uniforms back, but they had to be stealthy. It would be hard to get in, but d’Artagnan told them he had a plan and went to go and see Constance, begging her to pretend to be a prostitute to try and sneak them in. Marina and Clara were too well known by the Red Guard as ladies that attended to the Queen, so she was the only choice…and knowing it was for a good cause, she agreed reluctantly, being bait so that the Musketeers could get into the building.

“We need to use surprise. There are too many guards,” Nicolas told them as they canvased the area.

Aramis nodded in agreement. “Yes, surprise is everything.”

As they started to look around to count how many men they’d have to fight, flintlock pistols in hand, d’Artagnan took off running, screaming Gaudet’s name. He was driven by his need to avenge his father, and so the others had to have his back, Nicolas cursing under his breath as they went in guns blazing, d’Artagnan going straight for Gaudet with his swords.

As the Musketeers took out the other guards, Nicolas saw how close d’Artagnan was to killing Gaudet, finding his way through a couple guards as he knocked them back with his sword, Aramis taking them out for him. He couldn’t let d’Artagnan kill Gaudet, or they wouldn’t have the leverage that they needed to free Athos. It was eye opening to see d’Artagnan fight with such strength and skill, but he was being driven by a primal need to kill and Nicolas had to raise his voice.

“D’ARTAGNAN STOP!” He yelled, watching as d’Artagnan pinned him to the ground with a sword on either side of Gaudet’s neck making an ‘X’ from his hands to the ground. “We need him alive. He is our only chance to free Athos.”

Making eye contact with Nicolas, d’Artagnan agreed, but as he turned his back, Gaudet got up and went for d’Artagnan, Aramis calling his name. When he turned, d’Artagnan forced his sword into the man, Gaudet falling over dead. His father was avenged, but for a moment the Musketeers were worried that they had now come here for nothing…at least until Porthos called out to them. He had found the stolen uniforms and with the other Red Guard’s confession, it was all the proof that they needed.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

When dawn approached, Athos was alone in his cell thinking about a lot of things, looking up when the guards came to take him to the firing squad. There were chains on his hands and he was led to the space, seeing the squad and stand opposite them as they filled their guns. He was tired of waiting for the end, and didn’t see any of the others, so he wanted to face this. Wanted to finally put an end to all this pain he felt inside, and even if there was a glimmer of light inside of him when he thought about Clara, he needed to let it all go.

As he yelled at the firing squad to hurry up and shoot him, he was surprised to hear Aramis’ voice, seeing him, Porthos and Nicolas come in, followed by d’Artagnan. They had a signed release from King Louis to let him go, absolving him of the murders and thefts, publicly lifting all slander from him—at least trying to. Now that it had been put out there, there would always be _someone_ that would think something awful of him now. Even if they all knew that it had not at all been true.

“Get these chains off of him,” Aramis told the guards.

“I thought I’d finally shaken you three off.” Athos joked with a little smile, chuckling when they did.

Nicolas shook his head. “Harder than that to get rid of us.”

“I should have known,” Athos responded, moving past them to go after the chains were removed, pausing to make eye contact with d’Artagnan. His name had been cleared, and he had no ill feelings toward the man, just a lot of jumbled emotions he now had to deal with, and he walked away from him, not sure what to do next.

Nicolas, Porthos and Aramis were not far behind him, asking d’Artagnan if he would join them at the local tavern for something to drink. They wanted to celebrate that Athos was free, even though Athos didn’t look that happy, and Nicolas had to tell his sisters even though he knew that Anne would know after Louis, and in turn Anne would tell Clara first. She’d know where to find them all, and when they got to the tavern, Athos sat at a table by himself and held onto the necklace he always wore, opening it up to look at the flower on the inside of the locket, chewing on his lip as thoughts drifted to his dead wife and how things had been so wonderful until he had turned her in and now…now he had Clara.

He didn’t really _have_ her, as he was afraid to enter into such a predicament again, even if there was a small part of him that knew he could trust her. Knew that she was the sister of one of the men that he trusted more than anyone in his life…but love clouded judgment. Love could not be trusted because it was emotions it was not truths. He had been so blinded by love in the past, and he did not want to be blinded by it again. Still, when he heard footsteps approach him and he looked up to see Clara, he couldn’t ignore that seeing her made him _happy_. She captivated him in a way that no one else had and in his final moments he had thought of her, and it was a sign. He knew it was. He simply did not want to let this lead him down another dangerous path.

Especially when he still didn’t have anything in the way of closure from before.

“Why are you not with the others?” she asked him as she took a seat, looking over to see her brother with Porthos, Aramis and d’Artagnan. “I wouldn’t think they’d let you out of their sight.”

Athos smiled a little bit. “They can still see me from over there.”

“Perhaps, but it is not the same,” she told him as she took a breath, looking back at him and remembering to be proper in public, she kept a bit of distance between them and then she gave a little nod. “I am glad you were pardoned. They will want to celebrate, but I wanted to tell you in person before I retired for the evening. I also wanted to tell you that you might blame yourself, but I do not.”

Giving a little nod, Athos looked back at the locket in his hand and then he looked up to see Clara standing, giving him a nod and then moving to her brother. Nicolas embraced her and pressed a kiss to her temple, chastising her playfully about how a woman of her breeding should not be in such a place, and while she was aware, she had wanted to see Athos. Nicolas glanced over at Athos and he felt how different the gaze was, knowing of Clara’s feelings. This couldn’t happen. He couldn’t let it. So he ordered more to drink as he watched Nicolas escort Clara out and no doubt home, making eye contact with her as she left, and then focusing on the drinks.


	2. More Than a Flirtation

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

“She’s not here, you know,” Nicolas informed his companion as they walked through the castle corridor on their way to see King Louis. They were on a little errand from Captain Treville and it was obvious that Athos’ mind was elsewhere. Had been ever since being let off for murders he did not commit. “She and Anne are on an outing to stay out of the King’s hair. She’s visiting with potential suitors—his majesty would prefer she be paired off…”

Regardless of Athos’ verbal stances on marriage, Nicolas was so certain he could change the man’s mind somehow. He was the best man that he could think of for his younger sister, but if his intentions were not pure than he’d keep looking elsewhere. Clara loved her job at the queen’s side, but if a match wasn’t made very, very soon, she would lose that position and it was on Nicolas to pair her off. At least here, he could further assess Athos’ interest in his sister, while also doing what was in her best interests. Right now, that was being married off, and then it was marrying off Marina.

Athos kept looking ahead as he walked. “I didn’t inquire to your sister’s whereabouts.”

“You glanced down two hallways now—it was implied,” Nicolas laughed, shaking his head.

He still wasn’t entirely sure as to how he felt about his sister being in love with a Musketeer, but he knew that other than his drinking problem, Athos was a solid man of good breeding. Courageous, loyal, and stubborn to a fault. With his sister he was kind and he smiled when he thought no one was looking, but he refused to actually come out and say anything to the others. The only reason that Nicolas knew anything was because he’d caught them kissing in a stairwell, days prior and it was his brotherly duty to either shut this down completely or come up with a marriage match between them before his sister was utterly ruined.

  
_Athos had very much planned on making sure that he and Clara were as separated as possible, especially the more he thought about where he stood here, but she didn’t seem to get the memo. She saw him at a gathering of nobles, the Musketeers invited because Nicolas had thrown the party at their estate, and had to make her way over to him in that damn dress. She was beautiful, and had been entertaining young men vying for her attention all evening, but as he sampled the food, she had stolen away to stand next to him at the table, Athos feeling himself stop breathing for a moment._

_“Lady Clara Bordeaux,” he addressed her, in case anyone was listening to them._

_Smiling a little, Clara shook her head. “I do not believe I have ever had the pleasure of you being so formal with me, Monsieur Athos.”_

_“I do believe at such a gathering of nobility, it is only proper to refer to the hostess as such,” Athos bantered, admittedly having missed this with her._

_“I am no hostess, Monsieur. I am merely here because the host, my brother, is making sure he is still beloved. He is to take on the title of ‘Duke’ after all.” Clara reminded him, taking a breath as she looked over to see her brother with Odette on his arm. They were a lovely couple, and Clara already felt close enough to her to feel as though she was a sister. “You were all invited to be viewed in a positive light because son of a Duke or not, he is a Musketeer as well. In favor with the King and Queen, now is the time to have the best of both worlds. Especially because then he also gets himself a Duchess to manage the estate when he is gone.”_

_She was making sense, and Athos knew that, but he was also worried that this was going a different direction when Clara discreetly placed her hand on his. He wanted to move his hand, he did, but his eyes met hers instead and he felt his heartbeat quicken. Why did she have this affect on him? Why? He wanted to push her away and save her from his darkness, but when he opened up his mouth to speak, she cut him off._

_“I have something to show you. Please follow me…” she told him, turning to move out of the room without letting him speak._

_Athos knew he should have stayed where he was, but after giving her a count of five as a head start, he went out the way she had into the corridor, surprised when he felt hands tug on his jacket as he made his way to the stairs. There was a little are under the stairs that was tucked away from the rest of the party, and before he knew what was happening, Clara’s lips were on his and it felt Heavenly. It was almost as magical as the first time she had kissed him, and he was returning the kiss without a second thought in the world. Like his body was on auto pilot, but when her teeth nipped at his lip and he made a groan, it alerted his brain that he couldn’t._

_“Clara…” he tried, pulling back a little._

_She nodded, but kept his hands on his chest, and he leaned into the touch involuntarily. “I know it is not the time, nor the place…but you’ve been avoiding me. I just needed to be close to you again.”_

_“Clara…” Athos repeated, but this time it was softer, and he leaned down to claim her lips with his again, touched by that confession._

_This was bad, he knew it was bad, but he slipped his arms around her to pull her body closer to his as he kissed her, gently squeezing her thigh through her skirt and bringing her body against his in a less than innocent way. The noise that started to slip from her lips into his mouth was muffled by the clearing of Nicolas’ throat, and the pair broke apart, eyes moving to Nicolas. Clara’s face was flushed now as she smoothed her dress down, Athos at a loss of what to say. Clara’s feelings had been fairly obvious but Athos? Other than looks others had seen him throwing her, he had never said a thing to anyone else and now Nicolas was seeing firsthand, that something was definitely here._

  
The adjustment period of him finding out about them was mostly behind them.

“I was keeping an eye out for any Red Guard keeping tags on us: something you should be doing as well,” Athos informed him, pausing when they turned the corner and Anne and Clara were right there.

She was wearing a dress she could get dirty, and both she and the queen had their riding boots on so it was obvious as to where they were going. Perhaps she wasn’t trying to make it obvious, but she did flush a little even though she barely looked at Athos when she spoke to them.

“I didn’t expect to see either of you,” Clara spoke up.

“Or us you. Majesty,” Nicolas greeted as he and Athos bowed to Anne. “Don’t let us keep you. My sister very much enjoys the horses.”

Anne smiled, noticing the looks between them all. “She is not the only one. God speed.”

She could only imagine what business they had with the King, and she tried not to smile too much as she noticed the look that Athos was giving her lady in waiting. He was clearly smitten, but from what she had gotten out of Clara, he was hard to read. Still, she wished her the best, and as they headed for the stables, the smile stayed plastered on the queen’s face.

It was hard for Athos not to glance back, Nicolas catching the turn of his companion’s head as he looked back at his sister, who was already heading to the stables. Smiling a little and looking forward, Nicolas didn’t catch Clara looking back to catch Athos’ look as well. This was bad. He had a very serious thing for a fellow Musketeer’s _sister_. The Queen’s top _lady in waiting_.

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

“He can’t ever take his eyes off of you,” Anne pointed out, glancing at Clara and then laughing a little. “Surely you haven’t noticed, though, as you try so hard not to look at him in public settings.”

Cheeks flushing more, Clara looked at her. “Is it really _that_ obvious?”

“He’s not a bad match, you know? Your brother could make worse. As a Frenchman and a man in favor with the King, no matter the strained relationship, it would be good for you. You are the daughter of a Duke and Duchess, your brother is about to have the title, and Athos from what I’ve been told by Treville, has a title and land. Perhaps people would forget about the Spanish blood running through your veins if you entered into a match with such a Frenchman.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“For me, no—I am simply the ‘Spanish Queen’ even though I married a French King—but for you? You can make them forget. For years you have devoted your life to me, but you deserve the chance to devote it to you as well. Any children you give birth to, would be more French than Spanish this way…”

Anne wasn’t wrong, but Clara knew somehow in her heart that she and Athos could never truly be if he couldn’t move past his dead wife. He had been so hurt before that he was so closed off to the things that she was certain that she wanted someday. A husband, children, an estate of her own to run. All these things came to women in her position and with Marina no closer either, it was up to her to make a match that would make them all profit. She just worried if because of her love for Athos, she could even give a man as much of her as she needed to as a wife.

Nicolas was already on his way to trying the knot, but he was holding off because he wanted his sisters to be taken care of first. Everyone loved Odette and she did not seem the type to throw his sisters out as the mistress of the estate that she would be, but it didn’t mean that Nicolas didn’t want his sisters to be married first. To be taken care of just in case the living arrangements changed. With their parents dead, it was his job to take care of them, and he took that very seriously.

“If he wanted to be associated with me in that manner, he would have spoken to my brother already to be presented to me in that way. I might not always think as evenly as my younger sister, but I know my upbringing. In the end Nicolas will allow me to make my own choice, but the proper decorum must be followed,” Clara answered, even if she wasn’t sure if she _believed_ that.

Nothing about this thing with Athos had been _proper decorum_.

Their first meeting had been mostly gazing at each other from across the room and then Nicolas making it awkward by introducing them. It was then that he knew that she was his younger sister, but it hadn’t stopped the looks. They sought each other out at events and laughed and talked about all sorts of topics, even debated politics and had hushed words about the Cardinal in private. It wasn’t until they’d known each other for a few years and considered each other to be friends, that Clara had invited Athos to look at the stars one night at the Bordeaux Estate.

  
_Perhaps it was not the most sensible idea to bring Athos outside to look at the stars in the garden just the two of them, but their friendship had been toeing the line of flirtation for years now. Sitting with him at the fountain, Clara made sure to sit close to him, catching the smirk on his face and the way he blushed a little but not too much. He kind of saw this coming, but he always figured that as a lady brought up the way she had been, this would not be on the table._

_She was being groomed to make a good marriage to a good man of title and power, but she spent so much time with him that she hadn’t done much courting. A little, but nothing seemed to make her want to follow through and when she wasn’t with her brother or hosting Musketeers in the estate, she was with Anne making sure that the Queen was attended to, and she was in social circles being the talk of polite society. Her Spanish blood didn’t bother him like it should, but perhaps because her father and Treville had been so close and she clearly had French influences._

_“I thought I’d be coming out here alone,” Clara told Athos, catching his eyes and then looking back at the stars. “You seemed like you wanted to play the drinking game.”_

_Chuckling, Athos gave a little shrug. “I’ve played it before. When the hostess asks you to take a turn in the gardens, it is rude to say ‘no’.”_

_“Don’t go all polite on me now, Athos,” Clara laughed, shaking her head and holding out her hand for him to take. “Follow me. There’s a place over here where Marina and I saw a shooting star once…”_

_Hesitating, Athos gave a nod after a moment and took her hand, standing after she did and following her past the fountain to a part with more of a clearing. Clara’s heart was beating faster as she interlaced their fingers, Athos glancing down at their hands and giving a little smile. Now he **knew** what was coming and he knew he should stop it, but he couldn’t._

_“I almost thought you’d be a little grumpier. That’s how Nicolas talks about you,” Clara said gently, feeling Athos stand a little closer to her, and he didn’t drop her hand. “I like that you’re not always that way.”_

_“Maybe I don’t have a reason to be grumpy around you,” Athos admitted, but maybe he shouldn’t have._

_Clara smiled, rolling up on the balls of her feet to steal a kiss, letting it linger a moment before she pulled back just a little to gauge his reaction. He was softer around her, he knew that, but it was because years of friendship had led him here. Seeing Clara more and more, becoming best friends with Nicolas, being there for them when the Bordeauxs were murdered and they couldn’t solve the murder. His eyes searched hers as her facial expression changed and she looked a little embarrassed. Maybe he hadn’t liked it and she’d misread this?_

_She hadn’t, though, Athos closing the distance between them when she started to apologize, lips capturing hers in a tender kiss. The kiss was gentle, but it deepened when Athos moved his hand to slip into Clara’s hair, thumb running along her jawline as she dropped his hand only to cup his face and keep him close, allowing his now free hand to rest on her hip and slip along her body to her other side, pulling her close up against him. She fit right there into his body, and he wanted the moment to last forever, but they both heard Marina calling Clara’s name, both of them pulling apart slowly._

_Smiling at each other, Clara excused herself, Athos watching her go._

  
That first kiss had shown Athos that Clara wanted him in more than a friend capacity, and ever since then, their whole dynamic had changed. He hadn’t pushed her off, and now they were in a habit of being intimate in ways they shouldn’t, and everyone could tell by the looks on Clara’s faces. Especially Anne. Anne and Clara knew each other better than most, and Anne spoke up when she saw Clara getting lost in thought.

“Love changes everyone,” Anne tried, wanting to live a bit through Clara if she could make it work. After all, she and Louis had been handed to each other for an alliance.

Shaking her head, Clara looked Anne in the eye. “Unfortunately, so does duty. If there was ever a man of duty, it was Athos.”

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

“I’m worried about our sister,” Marina told her brother as she went over the guest list on the desk in the study of their estate.

Nicolas was working on tallying up some expenses, Odette working on needlepoint, when he heard what his youngest sister had just said. She was expressing something that he had been feeling, and they were trying to get some things put together to host a small party while Clara and Anne spent time doing what was needed on their end. They were getting ready for a diplomacy outing of some kind, but Marina needed to be home to help her brother with their noble duties.

Taking a deep breath, Nicolas gave a nod. “Athos has been rather distracted as of late.”

“Because he almost died, and Clara went to go and see him. He had a lot of time to think while he was locked in that cell. A lot of time to dissect all those looks he thinks that we don’t see,” Marina sighed, shaking her head. “Plus, Aramis has been oddly smiley a lot lately, and not over a girl. Different smile.”

Nicolas looked up when Marina elaborated, wanting to ask more about this Aramis business because that seemed an odd thing for his sister to say. Yes, she had been around the Musketeers quite a lot, but was she really around them enough to know what Aramis’ different smiles were? Oh no. Was it possible that she was _also_ in love with one of his Musketeer brethren?

“Clara was supposed to be in charge of doing research for the Queen, but she has been distracted and I just…I don’t want her to do something rash,” Marina told her brother.

“I do not believe Clara would. She knows her place,” Odette explained as she continued to stitch and then took a breath. “Though…they were very cozy at the gathering the other night.”

Nicolas scoffed, causing both women to look at him. “I caught them in the stairwell in an intimate embrace. Not, _that_ intimate but—they were kissing. This attraction has already crossed a line, and the next step is courtship.”

“What?!” Marina and Odette exclaimed together.

Marina was far less shocked than Odette, but as Odette and Nicolas began to discuss how this had to be kept secret until they could handle it properly, Marina already knew what she had to do. She felt slightly betrayed that her sister hadn’t told her about it, but then again if she had kissed someone she wasn’t supposed to, she wouldn’t have told Clara about it either. On that point, she had to admit that she couldn’t blame her, but had Athos told _Aramis_? His smile really _had_ been different, and when Marina was done helping Nicolas with the guest list, she took her leave and went straight to the Garrison to confront the womanizing bastard.

“Exactly what do you know?” Marina asked, not even caring that Aramis was talking with Porthos. She had hoped to catch him alone, but if Aramis knew, then Porthos should as well. “You were smirking earlier like you had a secret, and I want to know how long you’ve known.”

Aramis had an idea of what she was talking about but cocked an eyebrow at the beauty. “I have many secrets, but I have no idea which one you are referring to.”

“Oh, so you mean to tell me that neither of you are aware that the other night when you were all over, Clara and Athos stole away to neck in the stairwell?” she asked them pointedly, blushing when they both sat up straighter, clearly surprised.

“What are you talking about?” Porthos asked, though he seemed a little excited to hear the gossip firsthand like this—anything that made Athos happy, made him happy.

Aramis clapped his hands together and then rubbed them as he whistled. “I knew he was making eyes at her more than usual, and I did wonder where he’d gotten off to, but she was entertaining so many suitors that I didn’t think she had time to be necking with our ever secretive Musketeer brother.”

“That sly dog didn’t even tell us there had been an intimate exchange. I’m gonna kill him,” Porthos laughed, Aramis joining in until Marina waved her hands and shook her head.

“Neither of you are going to say a word to him. Do you understand?” Marina told them, taking a step to them and taking some pride in the fact that they both leaned away from her like they expected her to strike them. “He didn’t say anything for a reason and neither did she. I wouldn’t have known had they not been caught. You say anything, and I will kill you both.”

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Things with Anne were usually easy, but lately it had felt stressful because she was having such a hard time conceiving and Louis was blaming her. It was common place to blame the woman for such things as infertility, or the loss of a child, and Clara did not wish to see Anne have to go through this. Not after the miscarriage years before. Anne had confided in Clara that she and Louis hadn’t shared their bed in quite some time, and Clara was trying to find ways to convince Louis that Anne was very much fertile.

“There are cleansing retreats we could do. Fertility exercises,” Clara told her, helping to lace up Anne’s bodice for the day and then taking a breath. “I can drop hints with Louis. He just has to be willing to try again…I know it has been hard.”

She might have known that it would be hard, but she knew that she would never know the pain that Anne had been through. Even being with her all those nights she cried herself to sleep, or the little moments where she was reminded and had to force herself not to cry unless she was in private. All that time locked away with her in her room making sure that she ate and that she slept. It was then, that Clara and Anne truly became bonded, and it was then that Clara began to contemplate the idea of eventually having children.

Wanting to have children someday.

It was a complicated thing that choice.

“Convincing Louis that I’m healed will be difficult to say the least,” Anne explained, putting her earrings in as Clara finished lacing her up. “I just want to lay with my husband. He flirts with so many other women and while he hasn’t taken anyone to his bed chambers, it is only a matter of time.”

Shaking her head, Clara moved to look Anne in the eye. “Don’t say that, Ana.”

Smiling at the use of her Spanish name, Anne took a breath. “I know my lot in life, Clara. You and I were brought into this world female. We know what we are supposed to be doing. We know who we are supposed to be and what are position is. If I cannot give the King an heir…then I am replaceable and that means that so are you and your sister.”

Clara unfortunately knew that, and she swallowed when Anne said that, taking a breath and nodding. Whatever was going on with Athos was dangerous, and she needed to secure herself a future. Should none of these tricks work with Anne to get her pregnant, it was possible that she would somehow be forced out of this life and her ladies with them. All Louis needed was to get a mistress pregnant or find a way around the marriage and get a new Queen. Difficult, but sadly not impossible. Without a secured future, Clara wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

“You and I will figure something out. Marina and I want you to be happy. We want to help you to raise a little Dauphin, and we will. I promise you that we will,” Clara told her, giving her friend a smile and then nodding when Anne did.

Anne needed to have some time with the King, and then she needed to figure out how best to proceed next, and Clara was starting to feel a bit of anticipation. She needed to get things figure out. Needed to try and figure out what to do next because she knew that her life had to fall into some semblance of an order right now, and that couldn’t happen if she and Athos were toeing around things. If they couldn’t talk and come to some sort of understanding. If they really couldn’t make this work, then she needed to find a suitor and do the courtship and enter into an engagement. She had rebuffed so many at this point, but she could make amends if she had to.

Heading for the Garrison, Clara practiced so many things in her head, trying to think of what to say to him and figure out how to handle it, but what did she say? She knew that he was a widower that had been grieving his wife. She knew that he thought that he had murdered her, and all of that was something she had to know better to have a future with him. Did he even want a future with her? Was this only exciting to him because it was a fun secret? Because it wasn’t a secret any longer when everyone was figuring it out, and she knocked on the door, waiting until he opened it.

Clara gave a little smile when Athos opened up the door of the main office for her, he smiled too, not expecting her to close the distance between them when she saw it was just the two of them. She captured his lips with her though, Athos tugging her inside the room so that no one would see. He wasn’t expecting this either, but he was growing far too tired of denying her anything at all now.

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

After talking things over longer with Odette, he had left her to finish planning the event, and gone to talk to Athos. It was time for him to have a conversation with the man that he probably didn’t want to have, but his sister was important to him and a lady in waiting and this was unacceptable. He couldn’t have Athos ruining his sister’s reputation…or stealing her virtue away.

Even if he loved the man like a brother.

When they were this close to the monarchy, and when Nicolas would have to accept the title of ‘Duke’ eventually, he knew that he had to secure futures for his younger sisters. They could not be involved in any scandals if they wanted to stay close to King Louis and Queen Anne. So, Nicolas headed to the Garrison, only to see that only Porthos was there at the moment. Where Aramis and Athos were, he didn’t know, but he sighed.

“Yes, look this happy to see me,” Porthos teased, but he gave a shrug. “I suppose in your defense, Athos was necking with your sister in your own house and Aramis is Aramis. I’m only better by a small margin.”

It surprised Nicolas that Porthos knew, but he laughed a little. “I am always happy to see you, Porthos, I was simply looking for Athos. I suppose you can guess why since you know.”

“He touched your sister,” Porthos said shaking his head. “I can’t believe that he would do that. He was married once—he should know the proper channels. Especially given how close your sister is with the Queen, if he wants to snog her, he has to court her. Is he…on the right level to do that? I don’t usually look at things in hierarchy, but…your father was a Duke. Marrying him is marrying down isn’t it?”

“I want her to marry for love. I want them both to.” Nicolas took a deep breath and then chewed on his lip. “If she loves him and he’s willing to go through a public courtship, I am more than happy to make the match. It is just…it is a burden I never wanted. Marrying them off. It is the world we live in though.”

Nodding, Porthos took a breath. “Well, I sent Aramis to go and get Athos. He promised he’d help me train some recruits and I figured he was at his place grabbing some things. If you want to talk to him you can go there too, but I suggest you help me and when he gets here, you can talk to him and then we can all work on the sword fighting. Game?”

“I’m game,” Nicolas told Porthos with a smile. “We might as well start without them.”

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Fingers ran through Clara’s hair as she was pressed a little harder against the wall, a gentle hum escaping as his body touched hers. Athos kissed her feverishly, teeth tugging at her lips gently before he pulled back, forehead to hers as they tried to catch their breath. Stolen time was all that they seemed to get, but as his nose ran along her own, she forgot about all the things she argued about. She didn’t _want_ to just make a match to make one.

She wanted _Athos_.

He wanted her as well, but he didn’t want to say it out loud because then that meant that he would have to admit how he felt. That he would have to admit that this relationship terrified him because he actually felt something for her. By now they would have been in and then out, but the lack of actual sexual intimacy here had him _emotionally_ involved. That was so much scarier than just wanting to continue to sleep with her. Aramis definitely had the right idea when it came to the physical over the emotional because then he didn’t have to deal with this.

With facing his past fears.

With _wanting to be with someone again_.

“Please don’t stop this time,” Clara said softly, gently massaging his scalp with her fingertips.

His eyes closed and a gentle smiled graced his face as she touched him, stealing a kiss from him as he paused to revel in her. If he let himself get too lost in her then he would never come up for air and he knew that. This was something that he simply didn’t believe that he was allowed to have and if he didn’t stop it right now, then wouldn’t she be the one getting hurt in the end? If he really loved her, then he had to think about those kinds of things.

“Nothing has changed,” he whispered, though he stole a kiss from her, wishing he hadn’t shown that weakness to her. “I cannot give you what you want.”

Chewing on her lip, Clara could feel the sadness sink in, but she still spoke. “You act as though the only thing that I could want is a proper life.”

“If you wish to continue being where you are with the Queen, that is the only life that you _can_ have,” he reminded her, opening up his eyes to look into hers.

Every time that he did that, all he felt was this warmth inside of him, and this pleasant tugging on his heart. She meant so much to him and yet he felt as though he was saving her from himself and his dark path if he just ended it now. Could he end it now? Could he simply walk away from her and never look back? Honestly, he wasn’t sure that he _could_ do that especially when he saw Nicolas every day. Nicolas was one of his most trusted friends and he couldn’t break his sister’s heart like that.

“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me there is nothing between us,” Clara told him, cupping his face and running her thumb along his chin as his whole face softened. Why did she do this to him? “If you can tell me that without lying, then we’ll continue this ridiculousness further.”

A small smirk crept onto his face, and he leaned in to try and steal another kiss from her, but she held her fingers up to his lips and gave him a little smile back. Trying to steal another kiss was his way of telling her that regardless of wanting what he thought was best for her, he wanted to be with her. He enjoyed this sneaking about and the thrill of meeting in secret. It wasn’t that she was entirely a secret—he’d tell those who asked about her, she deserved that much—it was just that they wanted to be on their own and on their own time.

But _could he give her what she would truly want_?

“I don’t want to ruin you, but if this is really what you want…then who am I to argue with you?” Athos asked her, laughing a little when she did and stole the kiss from him. “You know I never win arguments with you, ma chérie…”

The term of endearment made her smile and their lips met again, her fingers threading into his hair as he hummed into her. This was going to get them both into trouble because she knew that all he could offer her was physical ecstasy, and while he’d take the emotional connection, there was only so much he would give. Whether he was ready for that or not, _she_ was, and he pulled back to look her in the eye when she pulled his hips against hers and made that need ignite inside of him.

“Let’s go get some wine and spend some time just you and me…my place…” he told her when she made that cute little noise that meant she didn’t want to stop.

He didn’t plan on stopping this time even though she knew that it was dangerous if they continued. Dangerous if this line was crossed now that she’d convinced him that consequences didn’t bother her.

“I would love to,” she promised in a whisper, stealing one more kiss and then taking his hand in hers.

Smiling more, Athos led her to his place, both of them careful not to let anyone see them, but it seemed that Aramis was always aware of what he was doing. Should it be any other woman he would have simply let it go, but just as Athos started to unlace her bodice, whispering against her lips, Aramis knocked on his door and started saying that it was important. That definitely ruined the mood, and Clara took a deep breath when she looked at Aramis: why did he care so much?

“Marina is looking for you, Clara, and Porthos says you’re supposed to be training men, Athos,” Aramis explained to him as he tried not to smirk.

Laughing a little, Clara shook her head and started to lace her bodice back up, Aramis making a show to turn around so that he didn’t see them kiss. Honestly, he thought that his friend was falling in love and if anyone could change his mind then it was Clara, but there were obstacles they would have to overcome. One of those obstacles being their own stubbornness, but in time he was certain that they would figure that out.

When she left the house, Aramis turned to look at Athos and laughed a little bit as he gave him a look that could kill. He had simply wanted to be with Clara and yet he had been stopped _again_ , and he wondered if maybe they needed the space. Maybe they needed to have a little sense knocked into them before they did something that neither of them could take back. Still, he couldn’t help but think about how nice it would be to have someone to come back to when things got really bad.

Perhaps those weren’t the thoughts he should be having.

“It’s alright to fall in love, Athos,” Aramis told him, not knowing the full story of his past, but knowing enough to know that he had been heartbroken and didn’t believe in marriage. “She’s of good birth and her brother is a wonderful soldier—”

“—we have a job to do, Aramis,” Athos told him, waving it off as he grabbed his things to go and do what he was supposed to. After all he couldn’t very well let Porthos down when he had promised that he would train the men at the Garrison.


	3. Heavy Hearts and Tough Decisions

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

Marina had never truly considered herself to be a romantic, but sometimes she thought that this budding relationship that her sister had with Athos was _good_. That maybe, two people such as them could find their way to each other and it would mean the best for the rest of them…and sometimes she felt as though this whole charade of men and women getting together just to marry and procreate, was silly and should be outdated.

Then again, Aramis seemed to believe that too.

There was something happening between the two of them—or at least on Marina’s end—but he treated women like a notch in his belt. Did he miss his last ‘relationship’? Oh he very much missed Adele, but as far as he was concerned, she had chosen the Cardinal over him and now he was back on the market. Marina believed that he hid behind saying he could fall in love, and he maybe did over and over again, but Marina didn’t believe that he was sincere about that. She believed that he simply _enjoyed_ the company of women and there was nothing wrong with that, but she didn’t want to be involved with a man that would leave her for something better…or at least for something _newer_.

When she was paired off, she wanted to be with a man she knew would never wander.

She was moving through the corridor of the castle, deep in thought about Aramis for what felt like the eightieth time this week, when she bumped right into Anne. Marina hadn’t meant to do that, but she did smile at her and blush, giving a deep curtsy as Anne actually _laughed_. The Bordeaux sisters were her favorite, and she was simply glad to see her, especially with Clara missing in action.

“I’m so sorry, your majesty,” Marina told her with a shake of her head. “I was heading to find Clara and I was…lost in thought. Please forgive me.”

“You are forgiven, Marina,” Anne said as she shook her head a little. “What were you thinking about? Believe me, I’ve been bored the majority of the morning and Clara has been nowhere to be found.”

Marina laughed and nodded. “I was worried about her too. So much so, that when I ran into Aramis, I sent him to go and find her.”

“Do you suspect she is with Athos?” Anne asked slowly.

Between the girls in the castle, it was quite the subject of gossip, Athos and Clara. They had been caught together more than once, and she hoped that the two knew what they were doing. After all, they had been trying to figure out if this was going to be a good thing or a bad thing between them. No one seemed to be that upset about the two kissing in dark corners, or stealing looks here and there, but she _did_ hope that they were safe and didn’t take it too far.

When women did things like that, lost themselves in lovers instead of doing the sensible thing and finding a husband, children always found a way and then there were other issues. Nicolas wouldn’t be able to save her from the disgrace, and the King would probably make Anne dismiss her as a lady in waiting and Marina didn’t want that. Then all eyes would be on her and she’d be forced to marry to save face, and so she didn’t want to have to deal with the fallout. If this was going to be an actual relationship, then perhaps Marina needed to have a one on one conversation with Athos and explain to him that if he truly cared for Clara, he’d do the proper thing and _court her_.

Maybe she should be keeping Athos and her sister _apart_.

“I suspect that she’s not thinking much with her brain,” Marina laughed, shaking her head a little bit. “I think that I wouldn’t mind having Athos as a brother-in-law…”

“Did I just hear ‘Athos’ and ‘brother-in-law’ in the same sentence?” Porthos asked as he came up to them, bowing to Anne and then looking at Marina. “Have I missed something?”

Marina laughed and shook her head. “No, no…just worried about Clara.”

“I’ve been worried too. Just the other day I saw them get handsy by your house,” Porthos put in, Anne blushing a little and then shaking her head. “My pardons, your highness.”

“It’s quite alright, Porthos,” Anne promised, looking around to make sure they couldn’t be heard and then lowering her voice. “Maybe we should all work to be matchmakers. If they want to be together it’s none of our business, but I would hate to lose one of my best lady’s in waiting, and no one should have to raise a potential child on their own.”

They didn’t all want to jump to the same conclusion, but it was a thought that they all had, and right now, it was time to let the thoughts rest. Porthos bowed again when more servants started to come out into the hall, and then headed on his way as Marina followed Anne to go and sit for awhile outside in the garden. It was hard for there to be any alone time together, but it was nice to sometimes just get to talk the two of them. Clara and Anne were the closest, but Marina could only talk to Constance when she wasn’t managing her home with Jacques-Michel. Right now, Anne needed to talk to someone, and with Clara MIA, Marina was a good other choice.

“Louis is still being distant,” Anne said gently, looking at Marina and then quickly looking away. It wasn’t the same as talking to Clara, but she needed to speak. “We haven’t shared the same bed for weeks.”

“You both took the last disappointment pretty hard,” Marina told her, chewing on her lip. “I’m so sorry. I wish that I knew better what to say.”

Anne smiled a little and shook her head. “I know, I just…wish I knew how to remind him that I love him.”

“She’ll be around today for you to ask her. We just have to figure out where she is,” Marina explained, both of them laughing before Clara’s voice touched both their ears.

“Where who is?” Clara asked them, giving them both a smile.

**xXxXx**

**PERRINE**

Perrine was a rather gentle soul at heart, but saddened, mostly because after her husband died, it was her place to make money to support herself. She stopped dressing the way that most women did and was constantly getting her hands dirty with the men that she commanded, in order to make weapons for the King. It was respectable work, especially since her husband had died doing the work of the Musketeers. Unfortunately, it was not a job that came with _guarantees_ , which was why she tended to stay away from the lot of them and wasn’t into the romantic notion of being involved with any of them.

She looked up from the poker she was using to make a sword when she heard footsteps, wiping her soot covered hands on her apron. “Porthos…hello.”

It wasn’t unusual for the Musketeers to show up in her shop, especially because they needed swords and guns, but it seemed to mostly be _Porthos_ that showed up to make small talk and look at all the handles and tell her stories of what was going on. Maybe he felt the worst about things because he had been the one to come to her and tell her that her husband was dead, but that was three years ago, and she had never held it against him.

At least not after slapping him in the face when she had first heard.

He had let it happen, and even offered for her to do it again, and it became a hitting him in the chest and then sobbing into it moment, where Porthos felt like she had broken. After that, he had taken it upon himself to want to protect her and catch up with her, wanting to make sure she was still doing well. She always made sure to bring the weapons to the barracks and then take a little extra time to catch up with Porthos too and always stuck around to see him, especially if she could.

“I see you’re working on a new hilt, Perrine,” Porthos offered, giving her a smile.

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Clara wasn’t sure what to expect these days when Anne asked to see her, but she knew that Marina was growing tired of the courtship that Nicolas had put together for her. She was with them as Anne watched Louis hunt, and she looked at Clara as she did a little needlework. Marina would rather be practicing sword fighting with Aramis, but her sister knew that such outings had to be done secretly so right now she was sitting with her and the Queen.

“Are you aware that the talk of the castle and the Garrison at the moment are you and Athos?” Anne asked gently, Marina smirking as a blush rose in Clara’s cheeks. “I only bring it up because I feel as though if you truly wanted the match then your brother could arrange it. After all, he knows him. Perhaps you were good at the sneaking around before, but word has traveled in hushed tones.”

The was almost code for ‘I don’t want Louis to know and turn you away’, but Clara had been aware that something like this might happen. Not to mention she’d practically begged Athos to take her virginity the other night and Aramis had caught them red handed. What had he said? Had he told someone? Or had someone other than Nicolas seen them kissing in that stairwell? They weren’t as good at hiding this anymore like they were in the beginning. Now they were too lost in each other to be as secretive.

Marina took a deep breath. “We aren’t sure if Athos even believes in marriage anymore.”

“Oh…” Anne said gently, but it was obvious that she was worried about the news that she had just heard from Marina’s lips. “Then he would not be an honorable match.”

“No, he would not,” Clara admitted, but honestly, she didn’t know if she cared anymore. She had _feelings_ for him and didn’t much care about whether or not she was treated with honor. So what if she disgraced herself? So what if people talked? She knew other trades besides being a lady in waiting and if she had to be shamed then why not for love?

But would _Athos_ see it that way?

They kept getting interrupted and eventually she expected him to take a lover to get over his sexual frustration. He was never cross with her, and he never acted as though it was only sex that he wanted, but she knew a man’s heart…or at least she felt like she did. When it came to an arrangement that didn’t end in a wife or goods, it was about physical satisfaction. She didn’t want to believe that he was the same, but she knew that if he didn’t believe in marriage, then part of what he actually wanted from her was carnal and while she said she didn’t mind that, she was falling in love with him. In their banter and the way that he spoke to her.

In the ways he looked at her when he thought that no one was looking but she caught him. In how in the two moments that they had started to strip each other down and she got nervous he had _stopped_ , even if it was obvious that he didn’t want to at all. There was an aggression inside of him that she thrived on and she loved that he liked to show her the lighter parts of his world, but what if that really _wasn’t_ enough for her? What if in this time getting to know him since deciding she wanted to be his lover, she actually wanted more even though she’d been telling him that she didn’t? That would ruin everything but there was this little matter of the fact that he was _not_ at all an honorable match.

He believed in right and wrong, but he would never be her husband.

“I have caught you more than once having a flirtation in the hall,” Anne admitted as she glanced at her and fanned herself with the fan. “If he’s not actually courting you then…”

“We have not compromised my virtue,” Clara promised as she met the Queen’s eyes. “There have been moments that I truly wanted to, but my mind constantly tells me not to. Even when he is hurting, and I want to protect him, or he starts to trust me with little things from his past, but I’ve never been able to go through with it. I’m sure he grows tired of our little games.”

Marina wasn’t sure that she knew what to say to that, but she could tell that what her sister was saying was the truth. She had yet to actually consummate anything with Athos and it was probably for the best because as things were, there was trouble brewing. France was at war with Spain and as they had a Spanish mother, be she of noble blood or not, they were in a precarious place. Anne understood as a Spanish Queen and their friend, and she nodded at Clara’s words.

“Good,” Anne told her before she stopped fanning and looked at her directly. “If you were to have a child out of wedlock, it would be a scandal you are not equipped to bear.”

Clara knew that, but she also felt as though she didn’t want to sit there and hear that from the Queen. It meant that she was probably getting in way over her head, and she shouldn’t have been, and that meant talking to Athos about it and she didn’t want to have that talk with him. Bringing it up meant admitting that she was attached that way, and he had enough on his plate right now.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

The last time that Athos had seen Clara, things had gotten a lot more serious than he had thought. It was the fourth time that they had ended up letting things get too physical, and then been interrupted, and he knew that they needed to talk because Nicolas had set up a little get together with eligible noble men and Athos was feeling _jealous_. He didn’t want to have these feelings, but at some point, someone other than him was going to be kissing Clara. Holding her hand. Publicly calling her his. They’d get to touch her in all the intimate ways that Athos wanted to touch her.

The clanging of swords could be heard as Nicolas and Athos sparred, Athos’ thoughts clearly somewhere else, but he was still winning. He was one of their best, if not their best swordsman, and even distracted, Nicolas was losing, and he didn’t like it. Still, when he held his hands up and Athos hesitated but stopped, he held his hand out to shake and then took a breath as Athos sheathed his sword and then moved to get some water after all of that.

“You’re not fully here…” Nicolas told him, glancing at him and drinking some water himself.

Athos gave a little shrug. “There’s a lot going on. We have a mission coming to us from Treville, there has been a lot of training—d’Artagnan has been trying to prove himself.”

“It seems he has everyone’s trust right now but Clara’s,” Nicolas laughed, gauging his friend’s reaction and nodding when Athos smiled ever so slightly.

“She’s just holding a grudge,” he admitted, loving that she was even though he wasn’t.

“Well, as far as she’s concerned, he almost got you killed,” Nicolas pointed out, making eye contact with Athos when he finally looked at her. “Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it again, but I meant what I said when I talked to you after training. If you want to be with her, we just have to go through the proper procedures.”

Athos knew that Nicolas meant well and that he was trying to protect his sister, and he couldn’t even say that he wasn’t somewhat interested. There was a part of him that just wanted to openly say he was courting the Lady Clara Bordeaux, but at the same time he hadn’t come clean completely to anyone yet. He was a Count and yet no one knew, and he was still mourning his wife even though it had been five years since he’d lost her, and courting Clara publicly? That eventually led to _marriage_ and he wasn’t sure if he would ever be ready for that again.

If ever.

Lately, everything kept telling him that he needed to end this all with Clara before it escalated so far that they couldn’t take it back, but he couldn’t do that either. Every time he tried to tell her that he needed to back off, either she or he would get close to the other and steal a kiss. A kiss that now _always_ escalated into something else if it could. They were only this drawn to each other for a reason, right? Or was it just because it was forbidden that they were both so invested? He could back off if she was married…he believed he could anyhow.

“Your sister is the daughter of a Duke. She deserves a Marquis at the very least, and that match could be made still,” Athos told him, giving a little shrug. “I have an errand to run, are you alright here?”

Nicolas just nodded because he could tell that Athos was trying to get away from this conversation, and once he had gotten out of the training area, Athos headed for his place. He didn’t want to think about Clara right now, or about what would happen when she was taken off of the market, but he knew that given how she was raised, her life would become helping the Queen, and doing everything that her husband asked of her. There would be no more time with her like he got now, and no more stolen moments, and he knew she knew that too. She just also knew more about his past than the others, and for a moment his hand moved to touch his locket, opening it up and thinking about Anne de Breuil, his late wife.

She had betrayed him in every way imaginable, and yet he knew that he had loved her so desperately, and was still hurting how he had turned her in. It was because of _him_ , that she had been hung and taken from him, and he’d walked away from that life. Away from being the Comte de la Fère. He didn’t have servants or a life of a noble now, he was a Musketeer and was that the kind of life he wanted for Clara? Being the wife of a soldier—of a Musketeer—could be hard. They’d told so many women their husbands and brothers were taken from them, and he couldn’t do that to Clara.

He just couldn’t.

It was in that moment that he knew he cared about her _that much_.

Pouring himself some red wine at his home here in France, he tried to push the feelings down, because he wasn’t sure what to do here. How did he navigate this? What made it exceptionally hard, was that there was a knock on the door, and on the other side was Clara. Every time he saw her he smiled a little, a smile that no one brought out but her, and he motioned for her to come in before he could stop himself from doing so.

“Whatever you and I are doing has to either stop or move forward,” Clara told him before he could say a thing to her. “I want this, but we both know that Nicolas has a gathering planned and that he’s about to make a match. I am the first lady in waiting to Queen Anne Marie Mauricie d’Autriche, and King Louis isn’t going to let me stay when he and Anne have a child, if I’m not a _proper_ lady.”

Athos had been avoiding this conversation, but she was right, and he nodded. “You’re right. You need to be paired with a man of good breeding and secure a future. At some point, Bordeaux is going to be a Duke, and this Musketeer dream will be over for him.”

“I…” Clara began, but she trailed off and nodded.

It was obvious to Athos that she was disappointed in his answer, a dull pain settling into his chest when he saw tears start to well up in her eyes. She had clearly wanted to hear a different answer and hadn’t gotten it, and he could tell that she wanted to be anywhere but there with him. It broke his heart to see her turn away from him so he couldn’t see her take the breaths to try and not cry, and he moved toward her slowly, wishing he wasn’t the source of her pain.

“Clara…” he tried, nodding when she whispered ‘no’ and held her hand up. “What do you want me to say? You knew I wasn’t ready for anything as serious as this.”

Nodding, she kept her back to him. “I know. I’m not upset about that—I expected that answer. I guess I just hoped you’d at least say you wanted me? That’s so childish, I know…”

She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek, Clara biting her lip to keep it from trembling when she felt Athos’ hand on her arm. He ran his fingers up and down her smooth skin, stepping closer to her to press a kiss behind her ear, which only made Clara’s breath hitch. He shouldn’t be touching her, he knew that, but he hated that she was so sad, and he had to let his feelings be known. Perhaps this was the worst time to admit anything, but he just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“Wanting you is not the issue, ma chérie,” he whispered, breathing in the scent of her hair. “You deserve a man that can give you every single piece of him…”

Clara couldn’t even be mad at him for that, turning around in his arms to capture his lips with her own, Athos returning the kiss, making a derisive noise when she pulled back. He didn’t want her to stop, or him to ruin this, but they both knew he was a broken man. There was so much he’d have to share with another before he could open himself up to the idea of marriage again, and Clara didn’t have that kind of time.

“I don’t care what you think that I _deserve_ , Athos…I want _you_ ,” she told him, making eye contact with him and then pulling away when he leaned in to try and kiss her again.

He wanted to tighten his grip on her and not let her leave him again, but he reluctantly let her pull her body away from his completely and leave. Reaching for the alcohol, Athos poured himself another large glass of wine, and let himself drown some sorrows.

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

Watching Clara with the eligible bachelors was actually killing him.

He could tell that she was faking her way through it even though they all found her quite charming, and Odette seemed happy, but also worried. Whomever Clara chose, she would be stuck with, and he didn’t want her to pick someone just to pick them. He just hoped that the courting period would make her realize that such a match could be a good thing. There were plenty of men in this room that were of higher status and still closer to her age.

“Does she look alright?” Nicolas as Odette as he sipped his brandy. “I’m worried she’s _too_ bubbly tonight.”

Odette gave Nicolas a sad smile and looked over at Clara laughing with a Marquis. “She just lost the man she wanted to be with. Of course she’s not alright. However, she is a Bordeaux, and she will bounce back and the she will be perfectly fine.”

Nicolas didn’t like that answer, but he nodded and found a way to get through the rest of the night, walking Odette back to her estate with her father, and then returning to his own to find Clara sipping at some red wine. Her expression was sad, but she threw a fake smile on her face when she saw her brother there.

“I think that Marquis Galois is a good match,” she told him before he could say anything to her. “He’s closest to my age and though he is a Marquis because his father died, he’s still of good breeding. I’m sure King Louis will be very happy when I tell him.”

“Yes, but are _you_ happy?” Nicolas found himself asking her, sighing when he saw her stand.

Swallowing, Clara spoke up. “I’m taken care of.”

It wasn’t the answer that he wanted to hear, but she excused herself and he let her go to retire for the evening. He had hoped that this would bring a genuine smile to her face, but it was too much to ask and he almost felt relieved when there was a knock at the door. Instead of having a servant do it, he opened the door himself, seeing Porthos and taking a breath.

“What is it?” he asked him slowly.

Porthos took a breath. “We have a mission. I was hoping you could get to the Garrison to be briefed about it. I know you’re dealing with your sister and your Duke-to-be-Duties, but this is pretty important in our circle of things.”

Rolling his eyes, Nicolas grabbed his coat. “I am always ready for Musketeer business.”

He wasn’t even sure what it was that he was in for, but he knew that he needed something to get his mind off of the fact that Clara was so upset, and so he was glad to get to the Garrison. Aramis and Athos already there with d’Artagnan. He seemed to want to be one of them, and he was trying to train with them, and help them with missions, and Nicolas was more than alright with it. Other than Clara, everyone had seemed to forgive him for the mistake he’d made accusing Athos of killing his father.

Athos seemed a little out of sorts, however, and Nicolas knew exactly why: he knew that Clara had been mingling with potential husbands. If Nicolas was here, the mingling was over and she’d probably picked, which meant that soon there would be a public announcement, but he wasn’t sure exactly _when_. There was a part of him that wanted to know, and a part of him that was dying because he was going to have to see them together. He’d be invited to the wedding and have to pay his respects.

“Did you sister choose?” Aramis asked, wincing when everyone but Athos shot him a look. That wasn’t tactful at all, but he was curious.

Taking a breath, Nicolas nodded. “She did what she thought that she had to.”

“So, yes?” Aramis asked again, nodding when Nicolas did.

“I believe we have a job to do,” Athos point out suddenly, all of them aware he was trying to change the subject. “Good Friday approaches and Queen Anne is going to pardon criminals at the jails. There is a man there that we need to get close to.”

Nicolas nodded, wanting to be part of this mission and he didn’t want to make Athos feel bad too. If that meant focusing on this, then so be it. Besides, d’Artagnan wanted to show that he could be a Musketeer too, and they were trying to let him prove himself after everything he’d brought upon them. So, after they came up with a plan to get d’Artagnan close to a man that was dangerous and inside the prison, Nicolas turned in, and tried to ready himself for this plan to play out.

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

When Clara heard about d’Artagnan’s arrest, it didn’t annoy her as much as it visibly annoyed Constance. Marina was telling her all about how upset everyone was that Musketeers had betrayed him, and while that _did_ look bad, he was still on her list. If he was put to death it would be sad, only because he really didn’t deserve it, but she still looked at him and saw the man that had almost gotten the man that she loved killed. Everyone else had forgiven him, and Nicolas had lectured her on the subject already to give him a better chance, but she just hadn’t been able to find it in her to look at him in a better light.

Perhaps someday.

“It might look bad on the Musketeers, but if d’Artagnan is going to start something he cannot finish, then…” Clara began, but trailed off when Anne and Marina looked at her. “It cannot honestly be so astounding to the two of you that I still distrust the man. I understand where he was coming from, but it was too close to call for Athos.”

It was the first time since deciding that she would take Marquis Galois as a potential future husband, that she had even mentioned Athos’ name. She was trying to avoid him, and him her, and everyone knew _exactly_ why it was that they were. When they were together on their own, they had a habit of forgetting that there were rules in the outside world that they had to abide by, and now that the Queen was visiting the jails for Good Friday, they had to go with her…and the Musketeers were to be the guard detail to protect them.

That meant seeing Athos.

Clara didn’t particularly _want_ to see him, but being with Anne was the most important part of her job and she took it very seriously. She and Anne were only more emotionally close because of Clara staying with her 24/7 after her miscarriage before, but Anne relied on Marina for all sorts of diplomacy, and to be her eyes and ears when she was otherwise indisposed. Having them with her made Anne feel safe, because they knew how to defend themselves and her…but they were ladies in waiting and noble women. They were not guards or Musketeers, so it was imperative that when surrounded by criminals, Anne be protected at all costs.

When they got there, Clara avoided all eye contact with Athos and let Anne do all of the talking with Treville, feeling Athos’ eyes on her. And they were. He was having a harder time than usual not looking at her, mostly because he knew now that she was taking steps to secure a future for herself. There were so many things that noble women relied on and while he had stood so firmly by his words, now he was second guessing himself and he _hated_ that. Hated that Clara couldn’t even look at him because it pained her too much for her to do so. He had truly never meant to cause her this kind of pain, but there was no way to avoid it now.

“This is my favorite part of my job,” Clara found herself saying as they walked through the front doors of the jail and were met by the jailor. Captain Treville didn’t particularly think this was necessary, but Clara shared Anne’s sentiments of hope. “Not everyone deserves to rot away in a cell. Men do change—even rotten ones. The Lord will judge us all when we die, but in our lives, we must find it in us to forgive those that are trying to cleanse their own souls.”

Athos swallowed and spoke up. “In order to forgive, you must first have trust.”

“You must first have faith,” Clara responded, still not even glancing at him as the jailor brought the men out that they were here to see. She wanted to look at him, she did, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, and instead focused on the fact that they were here to give some hope to those that had been trying to make amends.

“In his great mercy, and in the name of God, the King has granted you clemency,” Anne announced to the few prisoners that were gathered, Clara and Marina coming forth with bags of money to give each one to start all over.

Taking the money from them, Clara and Marina stepped back again to stand with the Musketeers, Clara noticing out of the corner of her eye that Athos had taken a step back. He was going somewhere and she didn’t know why, but she couldn’t be too worried about that anymore, and focused on Anne giving the men the small bags of coins. It was only when suddenly a gun went off, that everyone was on full alert, and Athos was calling out that the prisoners were escaping.

“Protect the Queen!” Treville ordered, Clara moving closer to Anne automatically.

There was a commotion and Marina and Clara got as close to Anne as they could, both with a concealed knife under their skirts if they needed them, Treville trying to keep them all safe. Unfortunately, d’Artagnan and Vadim, a vicious prisoner, came up from behind and grabbed Anne, pulling her to him and putting a gun to her face. He was threatening her, and Clara felt her blood start to boil when she saw her best friend being threatened, d’Artagnan standing beside the man threatening her.

“Do what he says,” Clara found herself saying, motioning for them to open the gates to let him go.

Anne meant too much to her for her to let her die, and she watched as Anne started to cry and Vadim ran the gun along her face. Clara almost broke formation there and ran to her, but waited until Vadim pushed her back toward them all, to move toward her and pull her in close to her, Marina moving as well to try and block her too. The chaos of the Musketeers and Treville, and the guard of the jail moving to get Vadim and d’Artagnan and the others that escaped, mounted however, and Marina lost her balance as the guns were fired.

Clara let out a little cry as she saw her younger sister stumble, Aramis going right for her and tugging her down to the ground. He put his body on top of hers to protect her, Marina blushing. Her heart was racing, and she was worried about her own death, but Aramis was protecting her, and when she turned her head to look him in the eye, she took a few deep breaths and got up when he helped her to stand. Reaching up to touch his wound from the battle, Clara double checked Anne and then moved to here sister, knowing she was breaking up the intense eye contact between Marina and Aramis, but she couldn’t help it—her sister was the most important person in the world to her besides Anne and her brother…and the other Musketeers.

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

It had taken Aramis far too long to get off of Marina as the gunfire subsided, and while part of her _enjoyed_ having his body covering her own, she felt exposed in a way she was neither used to, nor happy about. She pushed on him to get his attention to get him to get off of her, happy for the eye contact, clearly blushing, but needing him _off of her_. When he didn’t move at first she pushed on him again and he got up, Marina taking his hand so she could get to her feet faster.

As Clara moved to come over to her, everyone was shocked when Marina’s hand flew out of nowhere to slap Aramis across the face, but he knew he deserved it. If anyone had been paying better attention to the two, then they would know that he was on top of her for far longer than was proper and even though he had been apologizing when they stood up, she had had to push on him not once, but _twice_. He even smirked a little bit as she looked sorry she had done it, but he knew that such fiery passion beat beneath her breast because she was a Bordeaux. They were some of the finest people that he had ever met in his life.

“Marina!” Clara chastised, shaking her head. “He just saved you from getting shot.”

“Which I appreciate. Thank you…but next time get off faster,” Marina told Aramis, blushing more when that just made him smirk and laugh. “This is why you get slapped a lot.”

Aramis chuckled and watched as Clara looked Marina over for any wounds. “I’m not even a little bit annoyed by that comment.”

“Good, because she’s right,” Clara told him, giving him a smile when she looked at him. “Thank you for your assistance, but if you’ll excuse us, we’re getting Anne back to the castle.”

With one last look in Aramis’ direction, Marina blushed another shade of red and then moved to Anne, wanting to forget this whole thing. She didn’t know what was going on with d’Artagnan, but she _did_ know that there was something bigger going on, and once they got back to the castle, she smiled. Louis was worried about Anne and greeted her with kisses, Anne looking so relieved that her husband actually cared that she was alright…for a reason other than just she was who could produce him an heir.

When he said he wanted to retire with her, Marina and Clara curtsied and nodded, Marina looking at her sister when she grabbed her hand. Something was up, and Clara wanted to know what it was. Since she wasn’t the only one, Marina followed her sister to the Garrison, where Athos, Aramis and Porthos smiled at them, Marina blushing again when Aramis gave her a lingering gaze and a smile. He was happy to see her again, and her him, but it was cut short when Clara wanted to know where her brother was and was pointed toward the office by Porthos because he thought it would be less awkward if she got that information from him and not from Athos.

Everyone could feel the awkward tension between the two, and no one wanted to touch it.

Not yet.

Following Clara when she was tugged along, Marina’s eyes left Aramis’ and she instead went with her sister up the stairs, waiting when Clara knocked on the door. She was determined, and Marina understood that, but as Treville opened the door and let them in with him and Nicolas, she heard a horse and turned to see Constance. Excusing herself, she left Clara to go into the office with them, descending the stairs to greet Constance as she went straight for Athos.

“What’s wrong? You have that look in your eye,” Marina noted, swallowing a little. “Did you hear about d’Artagnan? Is that why you’re here?”

Constance shook her head. “Funny enough, d’Artagnan is at my house right now. Saying that he has information for Athos and the others. Where is your brother?”

“Clara came to talk to him because d’Artagnan was at the break out today. I should have known that there was so much more going on here than met the eye,” Marina admitted, her attention moving to Athos when he moved closer to them. “It seems d’Artagnan is at Constance’s.”

“He sent me to bring you all to him so he could tell you some news. We haven’t got all that much time…” Constance tried to explain, Athos nodding and moving for the office before he could remember that he was trying to avoid all places where Clara was.

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Clara’s eyes moved from her brother’s face as he explained that it was all just a mission, and to Athos when he came through the door. He made eye contact with her, pausing for a moment, then he explained that d’Artagnan needed to talk to them and Treville nodded. It was important that they all be informed, and when Clara got up to follow after Nicolas, Athos reached for her arm to stop her, Clara pausing in the doorway with him. Treville averted his gaze but heard every word that was exchanged.

“This is Musketeer business, Clara,” Athos told her in that gentle tone he seemed to only use with her. “You don’t need to be involved in this mess.”

Pausing, Clara found herself turning to look him in the eye. “The moment that it involved threatening Anne like that, it became _my_ mess. I’m going with you.”

“Clara…” Athos began, but Treville cut him off.

“It would be good for someone as close to the Queen as Lady Bordeaux, to know what is going on. Take her with you and then report back to me.” Treville ordered, nodding when Athos made eye contact with him and nodded too.

She might still not trust d’Artagnan, but she, Marina and the Musketeers went to go to Constance’s house to hear him out. It turned out that Vadim wanted to kill the King and the Queen, and that getting arrested put him close to Vadim. He was trying to prove himself and take Vadim down, and while Clara didn’t want Anne’s future to be in d’Artagnan’s hands, she was beginning to think that she was going to have to trust him.

“Your part is done then,” Athos spoke up, Clara looking at him confused. “It’s too dangerous. We can take him in now that we know where he is and what he’s up to.”

d’Artagnan shook his head. “You take them in now and the King and Queen are still in danger. I don’t know what he meant by this ‘trick’ business.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Athos asked him slowly.

“I go back in.” d’Artagnan put out after a pause.

Constance came back in the room to give them all glasses of water, upset like the other two women that she hadn’t been in on the plan before. When Aramis pointed out that it was in fact a brilliant plan, Constance slapped him, and Marina couldn’t help but laugh, Clara smiling and shaking her head at him.

“Do you make it a habit to get slapped by women? That’s the second time today,” Clara pointed out, Constance nodding like it should have been more than that.

It was news to Marina and Clara that Constance might have a thing for d’Artagnan, but it was clear in the way she was acting that she liked him. That put Marina on high alert because her friend was married, and because she didn’t know how much _she_ trusted d’Artagnan, but Clara understood it better. She didn’t like the idea of a potential affair, but she did understand that loving a man made one worry, and she looked at Athos. He felt her eyes on him and looked over at her as well, both of them making eye contact for a moment before Marina excused herself from the room to go after Constance, making Athos turn to look back at d’Artagnan, Nicolas looking at his sister as she blushed and looked down at her hands for the moment.

This whole thing was killing them both, but they all agreed to let d’Artagnan do his thing, and it meant that they could bury this for longer. They had something else to focus on, and as they all got ready to leave, d’Artagnan going back out the front for his cover of Constance being his mistress like Vadim thought, Clara found Athos taking her hand as she headed for the back way out with the others.

“Are you alright?” Athos asked her, smiling sadly when Clara actually looked at him. “I haven’t been able to ask since the escape this morning.”

Clara swallowed, wanting to kiss him and knowing she couldn’t. “I didn’t get hurt. I didn’t lose Anne or Marina thanks to all of you. I’m alright.”

“Good,” Athos whispered, his fingers trailing up her arm to her shoulder, crossing to the nape of her neck, and just like that he was cupping her face. His thumb ran along her jawline as their hearts raced, and God did he want to kiss her too. “I will always protect you.”

“I know,” Clara whispered back, swallowing as they both stepped a little closer…only to have Nicolas clear his throat.

Pulling his hand away, Athos went for his hat, Clara trying to take breaths to calm her racing heart, fumbling on words to get Marina. Luckily, a commotion by Constance’s husband ushered the men outside, and she and Marina stayed behind just so they weren’t seen too. Once they all left, Constance came back in and then the girls said their ‘goodbyes’, all of them wiser as to what was going on.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

The next day, Marina and Clara were informed that the Musketeers would be protecting the King and Queen at Easter Mass, and Athos couldn’t say that he wasn’t frustrated about it. Even in going to the Cardinal to help them to convince them to stay away because Vadim wanted to blow them up, Anne wasn’t having any of it…and neither was Louis. They wanted to show the people that they were still with them, and that they still cared, and that meant they were walking right into a known trap.

He just hoped that Clara and Marina would stay behind.

When Porthos showed up to interrupt his thoughts, Athos tried instead to focus on the mission, charging out fully clothed into the rain, wanting to thwart Vadim at any turn. Unfortunately, by the time he and Nicolas got there, all that was left was blood, and they knew now that d’Artagnan was in danger, and that they had a King and Queen to protect. So, the next morning, Athos decided to focus on nothing but the duty that he had to the Musketeers.

Protecting the King and Queen was the most important part of his mission, Clara and Marina along with a few other nobles and the Cardinal, that walked with them after Easter Mass. He knew that he wanted to save Clara no matter what, but he had to make sure that the king and Queen prevailed, so when Felix, one of Vadim’s associates, showed up throwing bombs, the Musketeers went into action to get the nobles and the King and Queen to the carriages, and to make sure the bombs didn’t go off. After Aramis jumped on one to protect Marina—again—he got the fuse to go out and as everyone started to clear, Athos took a closer look.

It was a dud.

This was a trap.

When they heard an actual explosion at the palace, they all took off for it, realizing that Vadim wasn’t trying to kill Anne and Louis: he was trying to _rob Louis_. Athos wished that they had known that sooner, he, Nicolas, Porthos and Aramis charging in and going straight for Vadim when they saw him. He took off running, leading them through a corridor farther under the palace, and Athos yelled at him to stop because it was over. It had to be over.

“Where is d’Artagnan?” Athos asked Vadim as he turned and smirked at them. “Is he dead?” Vadim looked far too pleased with himself, and put his fingers up to his ears, Athos realizing suddenly that they were in danger, and his eyes showed he understood now. “GET DOWN!” As he yelled out, an explosion went off, knocking all of the Musketeers out, all of them being buried under the rubble.

After a few moments, Athos coughed and pushed some wall off of him, checking on the others when d’Artagnan got to them, all of them getting up to finish this. As they went to go and follow them, d’Artagnan kept going, the other four fighting off Vadim’s associates. There was smoke and fire all over, but the clang of swords rang out, and when every man was down, they went after d’Artagnan, finding him going after Vadim, the back way out. They followed him out into the daylight, surrounding him and pointing their swords at him as he went down on his knees.

“I should have strangled you when I found you at the Chatalet,” Vadim told d’Artagnan, eyes on him. “Saved myself a lot of trouble.”

d’Artagnan nodded a little bit. “Why didn’t you?”

“For the fun of it,” Vadim said as he fell over, wounded from fighting d’Artagnan earlier. “It was a great trick—it should have worked.”

With that, Athos watched as Vadim took his final breath, dying there at their feet. He took a deep breath as it settled in that this particular fight was over, and his next thought was of Clara. Was of knowing that he had to go and make sure that she was alright…and the King and Queen of course. While they had gotten them out, this was quite the shock, and after getting Porthos to go and get the guards to get the body transported, they all got their affairs set and went to apologize to Constance’s husband so that he would let d’Artagnan room with him again.

“d’Artagnan was doing his duty at great personal risk. He deserves praise, not blame,” Athos explained, giving a little nod.

Jacques-Michel gave a nod too. “Oh, he is very brave, I’m sure.”

“Please accept our deepest apologies for any inconvenience it might have all caused,” Aramis put in, smiling as the others did.

“No hard feelings?” Nicolas put in.

“Of course not,” Jacques-Michel promised them “I always knew there’d be a good explanation.”

Nodding, they all smiled as d’Artagnan asked for forgiveness from Constance, and then Jacques-Michel escorted the others to the door so that they could return to the Garrison. It was a rather quiet ride, all of them parting to do their own things, but Athos was deep in thought. He knew that he needed to figure out these feelings and find a way to sort them because he wasn’t ready to be married again. He knew that much…but he wasn’t ready to lose Clara either.

The more he thought on the subject, the more he realized that sooner a formal invitation to court his sister would go the damned Marquis Galois, and Athos was incensed at the thought. The man didn’t deserve her and while Athos didn’t think he deserved her either, he was tired of denying himself this little bit of happiness. Courting could be a long process, and an engagement could be a lengthy one, especially in his line of work, so…what was the harm? His wife had been dead for _five years_ , and no one had ignited passion in him like this since.

No one but Clara.

Her position gave him little time to think this through, and soon he was headed for the Bordeaux Estate, and he was knocking on the door. When Nicolas opened up the door that night he was surprised to see Athos standing there, but he opened up the door wider to let him come in. As he opened up his mouth to speak to offer Athos something to drink, he found himself being cut off.

“I want to court Clara. Officially.”


	4. An Unadulterated Bond

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**There’s a lemon in this chapter.**

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

The morning after the Vadim ordeal, Clara came downstairs to breakfast and made a face. She wanted to know why it was that her brother was so quiet, but it seemed Marina was confused as well. Nicolas hadn’t said a thing to her, and it made Clara kind of nervous, to be honest. Sitting in her chair at the table, she smoothed down the skirt of her gown and then cocked her head to the side.

“Has someone died? Did Odette decide not to marry you?” Clara asked him playfully.

Nicolas gave her a look. “I had good news to tell you, but if you’re going to be rude then…never mind.”

“Don’t be a child and tell me,” Clara said rolling her eyes as a servant brought her breakfast and the other two and set it in front of them.

“Athos came by last night to official ask to court you. I told him ‘yes’.” Nicolas told her matter-a-factly.

Clara was glad that she hadn’t put any food in her mouth when Marina spit out some of her tea, Clara just as surprised as she was. More so. She’d gone to him and outright told him what she needed to do, and he knew what she was up to and why she was avoiding him. Perhaps she simply figured that he was going to move on, but instead something must have snapped inside of him. All the her not looking at him, and him trying to act as though he was all duty and no love.

A part of her simply assumed that she wasn’t the one to make him _want_ a future like marriage and children, and she had tried to come to peace with that. Now, however, her brother was telling her that Athos had changed his mind and he wanted to secure her a future with _him_ , and she couldn’t help but smile, looking at her breakfast and giving a nod. Marina was already asking a million questions, but Nicolas’ eyes were on his sister right now.

“You have nothing to ask?” Nicolas asked her slowly.

Clara swallowed and looked at him. “In order to publicly announce it, he…what did he tell you that would make you agree? I know you wanted to make sure that Marina and I found love or fondness before agreeing to an arrangement, but…”

“But there are proper channels to go through? Yes, I know. Athos has yet to tell the others, but, he is the Comte de la Fère. Making him a proper noble man to wed you to,” Nicolas explained, smiling when Clara smiled more. “King Louis isn’t going to make a fuss when he has a proper title.”

“I need to go and see him,” Clara said suddenly, standing up from the table and placing her table cloth next to her bowl. “I’m not hungry at present. May I be excused?”

Nicolas nodded and told her he was tending to the Garrison horses that morning, laughing a little as Clara hurried to get her coat and put her riding boots on, moving quickly to get her horse. She rode all the way to the Garrison, seeing Aramis and Porthos there already, sparring with each other in the square. They both gave her a wave and a greeting, Clara hastily waving back before she turned the corner to head toward the stables, seeing Athos there. She had no idea that Aramis and Porthos’ interest had been piqued, and they were following behind her.

“How dare you?” Clara asked Athos when she got closer to him.

Athos turned while in the middle of brushing a horse and gave a little smirk. “Have I done something to offend you, Clara?”

“Why would you tell Nicolas and not me?” Clara continued, giving him a look when he put the brush down and moved toward her, but he kept moving closer. “You could have saved me a whole lot of grief and pining.”

“You were pining?” he asked her with a smile on his face, chuckling when she put her hands on his chest as his arms circled around her waist and she let him despite the looks she was throwing him.

Clara was smiling a little, but still gave him the eye. “You are not as charming as you think you are.”

“Yes, I am,” he whispered, closing the distance between them.

When his lips captured hers to silence her, Clara hummed against them, Athos knowing they had an audience, but for once he didn’t care. This wouldn’t escalate in public because Clara was not that kind of woman and had a reputation to uphold as a lady of the court, but that didn’t stop Athos from reveling in the moment. Clara relaxed in his arms, hands splayed out against his chest for a moment before his tongue gently coaxed her lips to part and she was slipping her fingers up into his hair.

“I’m lost,” Porthos said suddenly, Athos sending him a look when Clara pulled away from him and looked over at Porthos and Aramis standing there. “Isn’t there a Marquis in the mix somewhere?”

Athos shook his head. “That got resolved.”

“This is why we cannot kiss in public…” Clara told Athos, but as she moved a little to take a step back, he kept an arm around her to keep her close. “Athos…”

“It’s just Aramis and Porthos,” Athos argued, nodding when she pushed on his chest.

“Athos!” she said again, only louder.

Letting her go, Clara smoothed her dress down and then looked at Aramis and Porthos as she tried to find the words to explain. She knew that Athos hadn’t told the others because Nicolas had informed her of that, but she also knew that this had to be explained. Even in a courtship, it wasn’t the most proper thing to go around kissing in public and she’d known that. It had just warmed her heart that Athos had made that first step to try and keep her…meant his feelings might be as strong as hers.

“I’ll let him explain it,” she told them suddenly, moving to walk past them back out and being stopped again by Athos taking her hand.

Looking at the other two, Athos seemed a little sterner. “Oblige her, please?”

Loudly protesting, Aramis and Porthos turned so their backs were to the two, but they were smiling because they knew the moment they’d turned, that Athos had pulled Clara back and stolen another kiss. Public displays of affection were rarely done, and Athos wasn’t the man to indulge in them, but he also was tired of being away from Clara. Of hiding what was blossoming between them, and he stole a lingering, tender kiss before he pulled back and smiled at her, loving that she smiled back.

“You _did_ come here to argue with me…” he reminded her, laughing a little when she smacked his arm playfully. “I am simply saying you brought it upon yourself.”

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Getting to have Clara in his arms again and not have to know he was letting her go, had felt so much better than Athos thought that it would feel. These years of getting to know each other, and even this bit of being terrified of what a future meant, had all brought them to this point. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about marriage, but he _did_ know, that he had strong feelings for Clara Bordeaux. Stronger than any feelings for Anne de Breuil. It was still a chapter in his life that he hadn’t fully shut the door on, but he knew that Clara wasn’t a spy, and he knew that she’d never hurt him like his late wife had.

One day, he was sure he could completely let Clara in, and now he had more time to do that.

Upon Clara leaving the Garrison completely, Aramis and Porthos came back to him, Athos laughing a little at the look on Aramis’ face. It was just like Aramis to jump to conclusions, but Athos didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t ready to explain that part of his life, or to relive having to order his wife killed because she was a spy sent in with an alias to seduce him, but he knew they needed answers. After all, they _had_ seen him just kissing a fellow Musketeer’s sister, right in the open at the Garrison Stables.

“I went to Nicolas last night,” Athos explained, finishing up brushing the horse and then moving to put the supplies away. “After Vadim, I suppose I realized that something real was right in front of my face.” Getting sappy felt wrong when he was usually so close to the vest emotionally, but he gave a little shrug. “Lady Clara Bordeaux and I have entered into a courtship. It is simple.”

Porthos grinned but shook his head. “Feelings are never simple, Athos.”

He was right, but the conversation didn’t have to go any further because Treville came to talk to them, asking them to split up and get d’Artagnan and Nicolas because they had a very important mission to go on. Athos should have known that Aramis would use this to her advantage when he said Athos could go and get Nicolas, Athos agreeing with a straight face as Porthos volunteered to pick up d’Artagnan from Constance’s house.

Getting on his horse, Athos rode to the Bordeaux Estate, knocking on the door and smiling at the servant that opened it for him. Recognizing him, the servant let him in and went to go and fetch Nicolas, Clara laughing a little as she made it into the front hall first. She was trying so hard to keep her cool here, especially because he was in his Musketeer garb, but she was having a hard time not beaming at him and wanting to be as close as possible.

“Musketeer business?” she asked him with a smile, looking up at him as he took a step closer and nodded. “Just in time to completely avoid the announcement to Anne and Louis that I have a future husband all set up…”

Chuckling Athos nodded. “We both knew that one way or another I’d avoid that.”

“Don’t worry, I know whatever happens in the future is a long ways off. You realize I would never pressure you, right?” she asked, suddenly very worried. “I know that you—”

She was about to go into what Athos was sure was a very long speech about how she understood he was still haunted by his past, but he _knew_ that, so he’d cut her off with a kiss, slipping his arms around her. Clara had been willing to choose a different life partner just to let him have his space because he worried about the darkness inside of him, but he had decided to do this. _He_ was the one that had barged in on Nicolas the night before and told him how important it was to court Clara instead of Nicolas announcing to Anne and Louis at tea time that it would be Marquis Garlois.

 

_“I want to court Clara. Officially.”_

_Nicolas was stunned to say the least, but he motioned for Athos to sit, and then poured them both some wine before they looked at each other. This was out of the blue, certainly, but Athos had been thinking about it and he just wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he missed this opportunity. He had already spent five years not forgiving himself for what had happened to his wife, and he selfishly couldn’t give up on how Clara made him feel._

_“Have you thought this through?” Nicolas asked him finally._

_Athos nodded as he sipped the wine. “I have. If it’s a matter of station, I haven’t told the others, but I have one. I gave it up after my wife died, before I became a Musketeer, but I am the Comte de le F_ _ère.”_

_“It’s not about position, Athos,” Nicolas began, but they both knew that wasn’t entirely true. “She has her own position as a Lady in Waiting to the Queen of France, and when a Dauphin is born, she’ll help to take care of it. She has been with Anne since before this Musketeer business was in her life, and while it helps that you are a titled nobleman, we both know she wants you. I just worry if…”_

_“If I’m ready for marriage? There is a Courtship and then an Engagement, and I promise you that I will prove that I am worthy of having her as my second wife.” Athos promised, taking a deep breath. “You just have to trust me. I have to come clean to Clara before I can come clean to the rest of you.”_

 

He had actually been pretty surprised that Nicolas had even gone for that, but as long as Clara was married, Louis would be satisfied. Being one of the King’s Musketeers was still a prized position, and they’d be granted a nice estate of their own seeing as how Clara was the number one lady in waiting to Queen Anne. Moving past Anne de Breuil was going to be another step, but he was certain that he could do that because it would be for _Clara_. He’d truly do anything for her.

“Please tell me when you’re back,” Clara whispered when Athos pulled out of the kiss, stealing a quick peck as she heard Nicolas’ boots on the stairs.

Promising, Athos smiled at her and then turned his attention to Nicolas as Clara took her leave, needing to get ready for the day ahead. He knew that it was going to be quite the day for her, and he also knew that when he got back, everything would be different. This was the moment where he realized that he was really turning over a new leaf, and was he ready? Was this where he said ‘goodbye’ to his late wife forever and put down new roots with a woman he _loved_?

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Telling Anne and Louis about Athos was something that Clara was actually _excited_ for, making her way through the palace rather quickly. She wasn’t trying to be hasty, but she was happy to see Anne and Marina doing needlepoint, Louis sitting with them for the moment because he and the Cardinal had a little business to attend to. That was actually interesting though, because as she got to the table, the Cardinal was arriving too, and she started speaking before he could.

“I thought I had more time to divulge my news before the Cardinal took you away from us, Your Majesty,” Clara told him, the smile on her face giving a lot away to the girls.

The Cardinal cleared his throat. “I would never dream of ruining our moment, Lady Bordeaux. Please, if you do not mind my hearing it, I would be thrilled to also revel in what looks like might be pleasant news.”

“I have entered into a courtship,” Clara explained, seeing how happy that made Louis already because it meant his wife was about to be spending more time with a proper married woman. “With Athos of Your Majesty’s Musketeers.”

“That’s a smart match,” Anne threw out first, hoping that would push Louis to say something nice as it looked like that was quite the surprise for him _and_ for the Cardinal.

“He’s of a proper title, I assure you,” Clara put in, smiling when that made Louis a little happier. “After all, your Musketeers all came from somewhere. All proper men in your grace that fight in your name to make French the best.”

Louis smiled at her obvious flattery. “You are right—they do help keep the peace. Even men of more noble blood, it seems, are willing to lay down their lives for me.”

“Because they believe in you,” Clara put in before the Cardinal had a chance to put a word in edgewise.

She knew that the Cardinal had the King’s ear, but she also knew that Treville did as well, and his Musketeers meant a lot to him. They were not above the law, and perhaps Athos was not a Duke, but he was still held in high regard with the King, and he knew that Duke Nicolas Bordeaux would never give his eldest sister away to someone that was undeserving. He would have a conversation with Nicolas one on one later, but for now…he needed to meet with them about business, and he took his leave.

Once he was farther away, Clara very distinctly heard Anne _squeal_ , and that only excited her more because Anne meant the world to her. They had been practically growing up together even though Anne was royalty, but her mother had been in favor with Anne’s mother, and the girls all knew each other so well. It was why Anne had taken them with her when she was sent to marry Louis, because she needed to have them by her side. She had Louis’ ear, even more so since the night before when they tried a new remedy meant to increase her fertility, and this was important to her: to have Clara be _happy too_.

Marina would be next.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Anne asked hurriedly, standing up to wrap her arms around Clara and kiss her temple. “I was ever so distraught you would be wedding Marquis Galois.”

Laughing, Clara pulled back. “He is an attractive, wealthy, very nice man.”

“And closer to your age than most,” Marina pointed out, giving a little smile. “Perhaps he’d be for me instead? There were some closer still to me that Nicolas did not invite, but for me, I have a wider range of suitors. I am the youngest and for me, it is just the getting wed.”

“You know Nicolas won’t let you go to anyone lower than a Count,” Anne laughed, all of the girls hugging while the men were meeting.

When Clara got home that evening, Nicolas was explaining that in the morning they’d be heading out to head off a man named Bonnaire, and she nodded. They’d be outside of Paris for awhile and she’d be busy with Anne keeping her relaxed since she was trying to get pregnant again, and Marina was going to be visiting with Constance a bit more because they needed new dresses for themselves and Anne for a few outings that were being put together.

Missing Athos, Clara waited until everyone was turned in for the night before she grabbed a night cloak and went to his place, wondering if he was even up. When he finally came to the door, she had just turned to leave, but turned back again and gave him a smile. His smile became more of a smirk, but he opened the door up wider to let her in, and she nodded, moving across the threshold and taking the cloak off to hang it up.

“I know it isn’t proper, but you’re all off on a mission for a little while and I wanted to see you before you left,” she explained, smiling more when he stepped closer to her and slipped his arms around her. “I finally get to be vocal about my feelings for you in public and perhaps…I missed your touch…”

Leaning in, Athos rested his forehead against her own. “Let’s both agree that nothing about seeing me before a mission is ‘improper’. Not to me.”

“Just to everyone else,” Clara teased, but she smiled into the kiss that Athos placed on her lips.

For the first time in a long time they were both very happy, and she moaned a little against his lips as his fingertips traipsed from her jaw down to her chest. He had ideas in mind and so did she, Athos slowly backing her up against the nearest wall as his kisses trailed hungrily to her neck. A gentle gasp slipped out of her mouth as he nipped lovingly at the flesh of her throat, her lip catching between her teeth as each of his hands moved to her breasts, giving a squeeze through her dress as his hips pressed into hers and she felt the cold wall against her back through her clothes.

Whispering her name in a pleading tone, Clara tugged his white undershirt out of his trousers, Athos letting her pull the shirt up and over his head. She tossed it aside without a care in the world, hands moving to his now bared skin, fingertips running along his scars and the muscles she could trace. A hum escaped him as she gently dragged her nails down his chest to the waistband of his pants, fumbling a moment before she got them unfastened, but just like that, he was turning her around to face the wall.

Fingers ran along flesh as Athos tugged at Clara’s bodice, getting the laces undone as he leaned in to press a kiss behind her ear, making her groan. She’d never felt want like this before, and it had been a long time for him, but they were both on autopilot of a sort as he got the back of her dress undone and turned her back around to help her to step out of it. It wasn’t what she had worn earlier, so it was easier to get her out of it than her other dresses, but it still had layers, and Athos didn’t stop until the dress was pooled around her ankles.

Smiling at her, a hunger in his eyes she hadn’t seen before, Athos pressed his lips back to hers as his hands traveled along her skin, his member hard. Hands gripped her hips firmly, thumb running along her smooth skin, her hands running along his skin as well to memorize the feel. He almost let out a sigh of relief when she pushed his trousers down to join her dress on the floor, the clothes no longer restrictive across his growing member.

He was aware she had never laid with a man before, and while he wanted to be fast and possessive, he had to be gentle at first with her, and let a hand slide between her thighs, swallowing her moan that followed, fingers gently stroking her damp folds. Her legs parted for him automatically, a new sensation rippling through her as the stroking of his fingers sent sparks along her spine. He pulled back to look at her, her face flushed in embarrassment and desire, and he kissed her with a loving laugh, a finger slipping into her to ease her through motions before he claimed her.

Was that wrong of him to have that thought?

To want to _claim her as his own_?

Clara wasn’t even aware that she could feel this _good_ , her nipples hardening as Athos’ free hand moved back up to massage her breasts, fingers pinching at the taut peak as his finger sped up its motions. She was making new sounds now, Athos pulling his lips back only to press his forehead to her own, wanting to hear the gentle gasps and moans that were slipping from those Heavenly lips of hers as he added a finger and she felt that pleasure in her stomach mount, the wetness between her thighs increasing with each dip and stroke of his two fingers inside of her, her hips moving to try and feel more of him.

It crossed her mind that he only knew how to please a woman like this because he’d been married to a spy that had seduced him, but that didn’t seem to matter as he started to kiss and suck at her neck. This pleasure he was giving her was _theirs together_ , and no one could take it from her. All she wished, was that she could feel him too. She was no stranger to royal consummations, so she knew how sex went…just hadn’t been aware that foreplay could be so rewarding.

“I want to feel _you_ ,” she managed to breathe out, hot breath on his ear as he nipped at her neck and increased the pace with his fingers, making her squeak a little and then moan loudly. “More of you than fingers…”

He knew what she meant, but he was trying to be good to her hear and get her off before he buried himself to the hilt because he wanted this to be as comfortable as possible for her. She was always arguing with him, however, so he chuckled a little and nodded as he slipped his fingers out, picking her up and setting her legs around his waist. Carrying her, he took her to his bed, laying her down and moving his hands to keep her legs around him.

Her thoughts were fully on Athos and what was happening here, but she was nervous when she felt him rub against her, member stroking her folds now as his lips moved to the nipple he’d ignored before. This time his mouth latched onto it and gave a little tug to distract her, lining himself up before just pushing the tip in, wanting to keep Clara aroused and focused on him. That sound she made, made him look up, Clara’s bosom heaving as she tried to adjust to the sensation, smiling a little as Athos started to press kisses up his skin to her lips, claiming them in a passionate kiss as he slowly pressed his hips forward to sink in farther, keeping the pace gentle in case she told him to stop.

And he _would_ stop if she asked.

This new intimacy between them was important to them both, but Athos didn’t want Clara to do anything she didn’t want to do. He groaned when he pushed in to the hilt, pressing kisses to her sternum as her fingers threaded in his hair, a smile on his lips as he waited until she arched a little to move, keeping the initial movements slow so that Clara could get used to him and how he felt moving inside of her. Part of him wanted to swallow all those sounds, but he also wanted to hear them, the sound on their bodies starting to move together, music to his ears.

“Tell me if I need to stop…” Athos whispered against her skin, chuckling when she shook her head. “I mean it Clara…”

She cupped his face and brought him in for a kiss as she tried to move more. “I don’t want you to stop.”

There were pieces of this that were a little uncomfortable for her, and she certainly wasn’t used to how it felt to have him push in, pull out a bit and then push back in, but there was pleasure mixed with all of it. She was in doubt that she could please him like his late wife had, but as she kissed him more passionately and arched again, Athos found it increasingly difficult not to move a little faster, letting his weight fall into his thrusts, which only made Clara louder. The great thing about being in his place, was that she could get as loud as she wanted, and his hands strayed along her frame to squeeze and stroke as he made love to her right there on his bed, not sure if he could hold back much longer.

A lack of touch from women like this, and her lack of practice in holding off, had them both approaching that peak quicker than Athos would like, but he was lost in the feel of her. She was warm and tight, her fingers in his hair and sometimes her nails along his back when he hit the right spot with a well timed thrust, and Athos wanted to drown in her. She started to tighten around him, nails running along his back as he thrust just a little harder into her, her sounds telling him that she was close, and so was he. Clara wanted to feel like she was fully his, and a foreign feeling bubbled up inside of her, making her keen out his name and tug at his hair a little as she came, her toes curling as she saw white for a moment.

After a few more thrusts, Athos buried himself back to the hilt a little harder than before, stilling as he came too, pressing kisses to Clara’s face as he spilled himself inside of her, their lips meeting in their pleased frenzy as they tried to come down from their high. Catch their breaths. Clara was a little sore, but she felt more bonded to Athos, laughing a little as he nuzzled her nose with his own and then pressed a gentle kiss to it. She was his, more so than before, and they were both feeling it in their bones. More than ever, Athos wanted to put his dead wife behind him, and he smiled into the loving kiss that Clara pressed to his lips, her fingertips trailing along his face.

“Is this…” she paused and made a gentle noise as he slipped out of her, swallowing before she was collected enough in her thoughts to continue, “…where you lay with me for a few stolen moments and then send me home?”

Shaking his head, Athos chuckled and stole another kiss, kissing down to her sternum to press a deliberate kiss over her heart. “I would prefer if you stayed here with me.”

“Nicolas will murder you,” Clara informed him, but she wasn’t going to move out of this bed until Athos told her to.

“First he’d have to try,” Athos smiled, kissing Clara’s forehead before he got into a more comfortable position holding her, and ran his knuckles along her damp skin until she fell asleep.

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

While not the happiest that Clara hadn’t come home the night before and he could bet he knew _why_ , Nicolas’ mind was very much on this next mission. He was still a little shaken from almost getting blown up the last big mission they had, but he also knew that this was his job. Would he eventually retire as a Musketeer to settle into life as a Duke and get married and have a kid or two? Of course he would. For now, however, he was having fun coming up with plans to do what the King wanted.

It would help put Athos in a good light too.

That was fundamental because the courtship had been announced.

Everyone in the palace knew about it, and so did the church, for they would be the ones that also had to sign off on the union. Athos was a widower, so there was a slightly different process, but for Clara, it was pretty much the way it was with every bride. She was supposed to be a pure, virginal angel, and while Nicolas wasn’t sure if she was anymore after not coming home, he prayed that everything panned out the way that it was supposed to.

Too much right now could go wrong, and he smiled at Marina at least, who was at the breakfast table where she was supposed to be. In fact, she had struck up a conversation with one of the maids and Nicolas smiled, giving a nod. Marina would be the _easy_ one to pair off, and he didn’t have to force anything on her. With Athos agreeing to eventually marry Clara, they had a little time, but all that time would be gone the moment that Anne gave birth to an heir.

Only proper women could help raise the Dauphin.

That was also only if Anne had a boy right off the bat.

Things would be a little more lax in the rules if Anne had a girl instead of a boy first. Louis wouldn’t be the happiest, but it would at least prove that she _could_ have children, and then they would try to have some more so that Louis could have an heir. Things with them had been strained lately, according to Clara and Marina, and Nicolas wished Anne only the best. She had grown up with his sisters and taken care of them in her great position of power. Anything could have happened to them, but Anne had wanted her _friends_ to be taken with her, so she had brought them with her to France, and now everyone was thriving.

“Where is Clara?” Marina asked suddenly, taking a breath. “I’m very hungry and don’t want to start without her.”

Nicolas sighed and shook his head. “She was not in her room, meaning she left after we retired for the evening.”

“Meaning she’s probably with Athos…and was with him all night…” Marina finished, nodding slowly as her brother pursed his lips together in a tight line.

The problem with young, unmarried women in their day and age embracing their sexualities, was that more often than not, it ended in a child. A child that would be labeled a ‘bastard’, and Clara could not be having any bastard children if she was going to stay in the position that she was in. After everything that Anne had gone with the last lost child of her own, Anne would be _devastated_ to not have Clara by her side, and it seemed that even though she was the youngest, Marina was going to have to figure out how to talk to her sister. How to talk some sense into her.

“Are you going to go soon for your Musketeer task?” Marina asked him, trying to change the subject.

“Soon, yes. Thought I would have breakfast with my sisters first, but I can tell you right now that Athos will have a piece of my mind,” Nicolas responded with a shake of his head.

Marina took a breath and then couldn’t help but laugh. “Here I thought that we were going to make a habit out of getting Aramis slapped in the face for being a pig, but instead today, you might very well give Athos a black eye. What if it was innocent?”

“A widower and the woman who keeps almost losing him?” Nicolas asked her, giving her a look. “No. I love them, and I want to trust them, but I’m also not an idiot. They have been drawn in so many times that now that they are courting? And are basically betrothed? It was only a matter of time. Just means that the time table Athos was so dependent on isn’t as long as he wanted it to be.”

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

The sun came streaming in the window that morning, Athos smiling a little when he opened up his eyes and saw Clara lying there sleeping, one hand under her cheek, the other holding covers up to cover her. It had gotten a little cold the night before, forcing Athos to get up and get them some blankets, because body heat only went so far, especially with the window in his bedroom. Last thing he wanted was for Clara to catch her death after sleeping with him, and he smiled a little more as he brushed her hair out of her face, pressing a kiss to her temple.

At some point during the night he had spooned her, holding her close to him and feeling at peace for the first time in five years, Clara’s hand taking his and keeping his front pressed up against her backside. It had been the perfect position to smell her hair and press kisses to her shoulder and her neck, but it had also made her giggle too much and she was sore still from him losing control there at the end before. He had to let her rest and recover even if she argued she didn’t need it, and honestly, Athos was more than content with just this skin on skin intimacy right now. Fingertips tracing shapes, lips brushing across fevered skin…it had all felt like a dream he didn’t want to wake up from.

Now, it was morning, and at some point, she had turned so she was facing him, mostly on her stomach, more beautiful than ever. In a vulnerable moment she had put full faith in him, and he felt closer to her than he ever had before. For the first time since he had agreed to court her, Athos actually felt _happy_. He felt like he could actually give her a forever, but he still wanted to wait it out as long as they could just so that he could get some closure. He needed to fully come to terms with sentencing the woman that he loved to death—even if that was what you did to spies and traitors.

“Ma chérie…” Athos whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “I have to get ready to meet up with the others, so we need to wake up.”

Clara groaned, and he realized she wasn’t going to be a morning person this morning. “I don’t particularly _want_ to. I would much rather make up an excuse to stay in bed with you.”

Feeling his member stir a little at that as his heart skipped a beat, he forced himself to shake his head. “We can’t just stay in bed. I have to kidnap a man and bring him before King Louis, and I thought that you were trying to be proper about this.”

“We went right past ‘proper’,” Clara reminded him, but she opened her eyes and smiled at him, smiling more as he ran his fingers through her hair. Reaching for him, she snuggled in closer to his warm body, running her fingers along his chest before pressing a kiss there, laughing when Athos groaned. “My brother is probably going to murder you, however, so…shall I scrounge up something for us for breakfast?”

“I can get us breakfast,” Athos laughed, claiming her lips in a proper kiss before he got up and pulled his trousers on, glancing back at the bed to see Clara sitting up with the sheets pulled up to cover her naked flesh. Smirking, he nodded when she ran her fingers through her hair to try and tame it a bit, glancing about to try and see her clothes. “I, uh…” He paused, but then shook his head and plowed right on through. “I wanted to thank you,” he told her as he went to get some fruit and some bread, bringing back a whole manner of things that told her he needed a woman to cook for him.

Eating a grape, Clara looked at him as he sat on the side of the bed with her. “Thank me for what?”

“For being patient with me. I have a dark past, and I know it is hard to be coupled with someone that is still trying to bury things, but you’ve never judged me for it,” Athos explained, smiling a little when she leaned in and stole a kiss before he could pull back away from it to make her let him finish. “You can’t just kiss me and make me stop…”

“Perhaps not, but I also don’t need you to thank me. I knew when we met that you had lost your wife. While it was news to me that she was a spy, I have seen your character as a Musketeer, and I will never take the place in your heart that your late wife occupies. I can only make you happy from this point further, and that’s what I intend to do. Is it working?” Clara asked, laughing when he started to press kisses to her lips. “I’m taking this as a ‘yes’…”


	5. Trying to Set Fire to the Past

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**This chapter mostly focuses on Athos and Clara and Milady.**

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Untangling himself from Clara had proven to be harder than he had anticipated, but after several kisses and three escalated kisses that almost led to clothes being discarded again, Athos headed for the Garrison, and Clara headed home to change and meet with Anne. Even though he probably shouldn’t have known, Clara had been telling him more and more about what she and Anne were trying to accomplish, and he understood. Nothing was worse than losing a child, and Anne had now given birth to more than one dead child and it took a toll on a woman. Clara thought it her number one job to help the Queen to have a successful birth, and it made Athos smile.

It also made him ponder things.

He needed to figure out what his future was going to be, and right now he knew that that meant that he was going to have to give all of himself to Clara. She was well aware that Anne de Breuil was in his heart still, because whatever the circumstances, he had in fact fallen in love with her and her lies. They had a life together before she killed his brother and he had her hung from the tree outside their house, and he wanted to focus on this mission and get back to Clara to explain more to her. This courting process would allow them to share secrets with each other, and he needed to tell her so much more about what happened…the Musketeers knew only that his wife was dead.

Speaking of the Musketeers, Athos made his way to the Garrison to meet up with Aramis, Porthos and d’Artagnan, noting that look on Nicolas’ face. It was obvious Nicolas hadn’t told the others because no one liked to gossip more than Aramis, but they would talk later on. Of course, he had to know by now where his younger sister had been, and that didn’t bother Athos as much as it should have. He had basically agreed to marry her in the future by entering into this courtship at all, but that didn’t excuse the behavior. Everything that happened with the sister of a fellow Musketeer was up for discussion, and when it came to the number one lady in waiting to Queen Anne, there were even more lines they shouldn’t cross.

All of that seemed to mean nothing as he thought of her, though.

She was his and he was certain of that, getting everything ready with the others and traveling to head off Bonnaire. They knew about where he might be, and they went to a tavern, all of them focusing on the mission and Athos admittedly avoiding talking to Nicolas right now. He knew that Clara was taking care of other things, as was Marina, and it was time for them to try and do something that the King would reward them for. After all, if he was in better favor with the King, perhaps he could get a new title, or at least find a way to make his less tarnished. Clara deserved better than to become the new Comtesse de la Fère. They were shoes to fill she shouldn’t have to.

Shaking the thoughts off, Athos was fully alert when more people showed up at the tavern, clearly interested in Bonnaire. Not that he was trying to stay off the radar, as he was flirting and drinking and being quite loud. Before they could make a move for him, a woman exclaimed his name rather loudly and then made her way to the woman he’d been flirting with. After a little brawl, the Musketeers got involved, taking the upper hand and then realizing that the woman was none other than his wife, and that made everything make more sense. It also made it easier for them to put a plan into motion to get this man to King Louis like they were supposed to.

“I don’t suppose you all would let me say ‘goodbye’ to the Mrs.?” Bonnaire asked them.

d’Artagnan scoffed. “Please. Do you think we’re idiots?” When everyone shrugged a little but him, his eyes widened however. “Terribly sorry. Apparently, we are.”

It was all part of a bigger plan to let Bonnaire think that he had escaped, but right now they needed to get on the road, and they wanted to make a little less of a scene. Bonnaire clearly had some enemies that they would all rather not deal with right now, and Athos instead, started to get everything ready so that they could head back to Paris.

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

There were tasks that Marina had to complete for Anne, that brought her to the doorstep of Constance’s house, but that wasn’t the only reason she was there. When Constance opened up, she and Marina threw their arms around each other and hugged, both of them moving into the house and Constance getting Marina some tea. Sometimes the two simply liked to converse with one another, but today was going to be a bit of all of it.

“You coming with more Musketeer issues? On Queen business?” Constance asked her.

Marina laughed a little. “A little of everything. I am in desperate need to purchase some of your finest linens for new dresses for Clara, Anne and I. We want to get a jump start on an announcement of great secrecy, otherwise I’d tell you. On a different front, I know that Clara and I know how to defend ourselves, and I thought I might extend that to you. You’re being dragged into Musketeer business more than you should be, and you should know how to fight.”

“I…have that covered with d’Artagnan,” Constance admitted with a blush.

“How about we cover it with someone who won’t coax you out of your husband’s bed?” Marina asked her point blank.

Usually such a direct comment would be met with anger, but Constance and Marina knew each other so well that Constance’s walls were down with her. She knew that Marina only had her best interests at heart, and with the news of Athos and Clara entering into a courtship all over right now, she could understand Marina’s need to be protective. The women in her life meant the most to her, and she just didn’t want to see Constance’s good name sullied.

“How about both?” Constance asked slowly. “Besides, I’d like to think I cannot be seduced.”

Laughing, Marina sipped more tea. “Yes, of course.”

They both smiled at one another before they went to go and see Perrine, Constance already in acquaintance with her as well. As they were both women in town that were not nobles, they interacted more at the market and such than the others. Her late husband had been the blacksmith and he was in charge of getting the Garrison what was needed, but now Perrine had been running things. At least until she could get re-married and have her new husband run things. Not that she wanted a new husband, when she had loved the first. They had been trying for a child before he was killed, and now she didn’t even have that to show for it. Just a booming business and a lot of men that thought they could best her, but she was really far more talented than she was given credit for.

“I didn’t know you two were so well acquainted,” Constance admitted with a smile. “Though, I suppose the fact that Nicolas is a Musketeer, kind of should have tipped me off.”

Perrine smiled at her. “I’m not sure of that. Doesn’t explain why a lady in waiting to the Queen of France would come and spend time in the dirt.”

“Dirt doesn’t bother one when her brother is a Musketeer,” Marina pointed out, all three women laughing and then smiling at one another. “I thought, though, that perhaps Constance could join us in our sparring. Nicolas taught Clara and I early on how to defend ourselves and we spar with him as well to stay fit to defend ourselves and the Queen if need be, but you…need practice.”

“I do,” Constance admitted, pushing up her sleeves and nodding. “When do we begin?”

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Clara had barely seen Marina before the two had talked to Anne that morning, and she hadn’t told her anything of what had happened with Athos. They hadn’t had time to properly discuss it before Anne had sent Marina off on her errand to get new cloth so dresses could be made for a celebration that the Queen was pregnant again, but Anne didn’t know yet. She wasn’t certain she was, but she was trying to be, and she wanted to be prepared. Perhaps she was jumping the gun a little bit. Either way, Marina had been sent off and Clara was with Anne while Louis met with the Cardinal, and Clara wanted to talk.

She wanted to have a personal conversation with Anne because after everything they’d gone through together, she knew that Anne would understand. At the same time, if she told the Queen of France that she was sleeping with a man she was not married to, she’d be chastised. Plus, Anne would try and force their marriage to happen quicker than Athos wanted it to, and Clara wasn’t ready for marriage yet either. She didn’t like being told that her position was also bent on her becoming ‘proper’ by getting a husband, but she wanted to be there for Anne. Wanted to help and raise any live children that Anne happened to have.

“Anne, I need your counsel,” Clara blurted out as she worked on her needlepoint.

Looking up at her, Anne took a breath. “What have you done? Was it the exact improper thing that Marina and I have been warning you against?”

“…yes…?” Clara offered, recoiling a little when Anne shot her a look. “I want to have this discussion as friends, not as you as my Queen. Please?”

It was obvious that Anne was feeling conflicted right now, but she held her friends so close to her that she had to oblige. Clara and Marina were the two people in the world that Anne trusted the most, and she took a deep breath and nodded, which lifted a weight that Clara hadn’t even been aware that she was carrying. While the most important issue at hand was helping Anne to become pregnant again and then give birth to a _healthy child_ , Clara had thoughts of all sorts swirling in her head.

“Since you have already guessed, Athos and I shared a bed last night,” Clara began, nodding when Anne opened up her mouth to say something, but then closed it in a tight line to let her finish. “It was pleasing, but I’m sore, and I’m exhausted, and I don’t know if it was good for him? He was married before and I don’t want to under perform, but all I know I know from having to watch royal consummations.”

Anne blushed a little at that and smiled. “I know. It takes a little while to get used to it. Louis and I had to try a few times before it was more pleasing. In time, you grow to know what your husband likes and doesn’t like, and your body becomes more comfortable with the act. You can enjoy it and still feel awkward—I understand the sensation.”

“That is why I wanted to talk to you about it,” Clara admitted, blushing more now and then laughing. “I am also fairly surprised you got through that without telling me how stupid I’m being.”

“Rash,” Anne corrected her, shaking her head. “You told me once that there was no man that was more a man of duty than Athos himself, and it is in that that I have my faith. I am all for the two of you being able to have each other in this deep love, but I do not want to lose you. You are so dear to my heart, Clara, and should you fall with child, I do not want you disgraced. Luckily, a man of duty like Athos would marry you in a heartbeat should that happen.”

Clara hadn’t thought of it like that before, but Anne had a point: Athos was a man of duty. It was clear that he was a man of love as well, but it was always duty first with him and should she become pregnant, he would marry her whether he was ready or not. That almost didn’t sit well with her, however, because she didn’t want him to feel like he was being backed into a corner with her. The last thing that she wanted was for him to feel _trapped_. Not only would that not be fair to him, but it wouldn’t be fair to her or the life she wanted with him.

“What kind of awkward was it?” Anne asked slowly, clearly wanting some details.

Laughing a little, Clara shrugged. “I didn’t know exactly what to do. It was good, and I enjoyed the intimacy of it all, but he had to do all the work. I am at a loss for what to do here.”

“Marry him, and I’ll impart some wisdom,” Anne promised her.

Clara laughed a little at that and nodded, spending some time with Anne before she made it back to the Bordeaux Estate, surprised when a servant came and told her that there was a woman there to see her. Moving to the hall, Clara gave a smile to the raven haired, green eyed beauty, and held out her hand to the woman who was clearly looking her up and down. She didn’t know why the woman was doing that, but she did know that she had to be polite, and should she need help telling the woman to leave, there were servants she could call out for.

“Lady Clara Bordeaux at your request, Madame…?” she began, looking for a name.

The woman smiled at her too and grasped her hand. “Milady de Winter.”

“Milady de Winter,” Clara repeated, confused as to why the woman held her hand longer than was polite, but let it go for the moment when their hands dropped. “I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing who you are.”

“I’m new to court,” Milady explained, giving a brighter smile. “I was told that if I wanted to make an impression, I needed to meet with women in court that were influential. As the top lady in waiting to Queen Anne _and_ now the future wife to be of a Musketeer…you seemed the one to call upon.”

The way Milady brought up Athos, the tone in her voice, made Clara feel a little uncomfortable, but it had already been announced by Nicolas after she had told Anne and Louis. Not to mention the Cardinal and the church knew, and gossip flew through the kingdom pretty quickly. Especially anything that involved the royalty and the nobility. How she knew so fast when she was new…Clara could speculate, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted to.

“Then it is a pleasure to meet you,” Clara smiled, remembering her manners even though something about this woman _terrified_ her. “Next there is a gathering at court, you’ll have to do me the honor of coming with me.”

Milady gave a smile and a nod. “I’m certain that can be arranged. If your betrothed doesn’t mind my stealing some of your attention to get acclimated.”

“He’s well aware of my duties at court, he won’t be upset,” Clara promised and then took a breath. “Where are my manners? Would you like some tea?”

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Once they’d finally gotten Bonnaire into a carriage and were taking him to the King, they were ambushed, everyone ready for a fight. They had known that this would not be easy, but they made their way through them and out of sight, trying to take some refuge in a town off the main road. If only it had been that easy, however, because they were ambushed there as well, by men with axes and with swords, and after he was off of his horse, Athos pulled his sword out.

“Porthos! Stay with him!” Athos called out, Porthos nodding and staying near Bonnaire.

Even though they hadn’t been expecting this kind of fight, the sound of swords clashing could be heard loudly, and as men went for the carriage, Bonnaire hid underneath it. Athos, Nicolas and Aramis were busy with hordes of their own, but one of the men broke Porthos’ sword and in his attempt to try and still use what bit of it was left, he found an ax being swung down on him, and he hit the ground hard as Aramis called out to him.

Luckily, they were the Musketeers and they cut one man down and then another, until it was just them and a couple others, a nobleman stepping out of what appeared to be a barn. He announced his presence and the fighting ceased, Bonnaire speaking up about how that was his business partner, Paul, and Paul was not happy to see him either. Now more than ever, Athos wondered if they had bitten off more than they could chew, but he took a deep breath and gave Paul a nod.

“There was no—there was no time, Paul. I was forced to go to Paris immediately,” Bonnaire tried, looking at the Musketeers.

Paul took a breath. “Hand him over and there will be no issue.”

“I sympathize with you, Monsieur. No doubt your partner here is a cheat and a swindler. However, it is our duty to accompany him to Paris safely. So, you must wait to seek justice there.” Athos informed him.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I will not stop until I have him,” Paul explained.

Athos nodded slowly. “How unfortunate, because we will not stop unless you let us return to our task at hand. Tell your men to lay down their weapons.” He gave a curt nod when Paul did as he was told, and then took a deep breath. “I will inform the Cardinal of your claims, but until then, I suggest you wait.”

“How do I know you won’t betray me?” Paul asked him.

Stepping closer to him, Athos shot daggers at him with his eyes. “I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear that.” Both of them nodding in understanding with each other, Athos started back to the carriage and horses. “If I see your scouts on the road again, there won’t be any second chances.”

“Scouts?” Paul asked, genuinely confused.

“Two men? All dressed in black? They’ve been on our tail since Le Havre,” Athos explained, but to his dismay, they did not belong to Paul.

Bonnaire had an unfortunate number of enemies, and Athos wanted to focus right now on getting back to Paris because not only was the mission in danger, but he was antsy to get away from this place. They were far too close to the estate that he and Anne de Breuil shared together, and he didn’t want to face that right now. Not when he had something good with Clara going on. However, Porthos was bleeding out and needed to be sewn up, and the only answer was taking him there. He didn’t want to relive a single part of that, but Aramis was determined to save Porthos, and Athos was going to have to do what was best for a man he thought of as his brother.

Even if it meant riding through a town where he was known.

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Tea with Milady de Winter had been interesting, because while she seemed to be smiles and flattery, she kept eluding to the Musketeers. Kept asking strange questions about their true allegiance and making Clara feel a little uncomfortable. Especially when she asked about more intimate things and then played it off as she was trying to make sense of idle gossip, and Clara didn’t like it at all. If this woman truly _was_ going to be part of court from now on, she felt like she was going to have to mind where she stepped just to keep face.

The woman _scared_ her.

There was something in the way that she carried herself, that made Clara feel like she was walking on eggshells. Like she knew so much even though she acted like she knew nothing at all, and perhaps it was just the way she carried herself. Women knew each other in a way that men did not understand, and there was something territorial in the way that the woman spoke. In trying to get to know her, Clara felt like she was trying to get to know her _weaknesses_ , so she had to be careful with how she said things and what it was that she said.

When she left the estate, Clara felt more at peace, only she also knew that she’d have to see her again and so she went to talk to Anne and Marina about it. No one made her feel better than the two of them, and she wanted to let out her concerns before they met her as well. She was here for a reason, one she kept talking around when Clara had asked, and it only made Clara want to know more about her and more about her ulterior motives. No woman simply called on another without trying to better their position somehow when they didn’t know them. At least it was uncommon to do so.

“It was her eyes,” Clara admitted, fidgeting a little in her seat.

Marina glanced up from the harp. “Her eyes scared you?”

“There was an eerie strength in them,” Clara tried, shaking her head. “I know I’m not making any sense, but this Milady de Winter makes me anxious. Our whole conversation kept somehow getting sidetracked to Athos. Not by name, just…little questions here and there. Or a remark about how I must be some kind of woman to want to bed a Musketeer. I almost felt like she was insulting me most of the time and it was odd.”

“Perhaps Athos has admirers you don’t know about,” Anne offered, giving a little smile. “Perhaps she is just jealous and trying to change your mind.”

Clara gave a little shrug. “Perhaps, but isn’t that odd?”

Marina shook her head at her older sister. “No, not particularly. You both just came out saying that you were courting, which basically says you’ve picked a husband and he has secured you as a future wife. This is the _perfect_ time for others to come out and try to take you two away from each other.”

“Except no one will fight him for me,” Clara laughed, shaking her head.

It wasn’t that her hand hadn’t been sought after, but she had made her choice, and no one was going to go against a woman as in favor with the Queen as she was. Not to mention that she was still a noblewoman that had Spanish blood coursing through her veins, and they could argue with themselves that they had dodged a bullet. Being with her meant position and power, but it could also be used against a man to say that he had a conflict of interest in the matter.

Luckily, Athos seemed to love her as is.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Walking into the house that was once his, Athos almost felt assaulted with memories of the place. He knew that they were only here because they needed to get Porthos patched up, but he was so worried about these feelings inside of him. There was still so much _pain_ at seeing the places where he and Anne de Breuil had spent time together. Pleasant time. Tragic time. Everything in here reminded him of his dead wife and what had happened before, and even if thoughts of Clara had gotten him through before, this place was _suffocating him_.

“How did you say you knew of this place again?” d’Artagnan asked him as Aramis and Nicolas got Porthos properly situated and Bonnaire assessed the rooms and the best way to try to escape.

Athos took a breath and looked at him. “I own it.”

Everyone looked at him in surprise except for Nicolas, Nicolas and Aramis sharing a look before there was a nod between them and Bonnaire offered up some expensive and potent alcohol to ease Porthos’ pain from his wound. Moving through the house a little, Athos tried to calm his nerves, looking up when Aramis came over to him.

“So…you are the Comte de la Fère? Son of the nobility?” Aramis asked, nodding when Athos did. “Now I understand how it was so easy to get Nicolas to agree to let you court his sister. After all, he’s going to be a Duke.”

Athos took a breath. “Technically he’s a Duke now. The title passed to him when his father died, he just doesn’t want to accept the responsibility right now.”

“Still,” Aramis began, washing his hands as he prepped to do needlework on Porthos. “How many servants did it take to run this place?”

“No more than twenty including my valet and housekeeper. Servants make me uncomfortable,” he admitted to his friend.

Aramis gave a little nod. “Something I’m sure you and Clara should discuss before you’re married…”

He was trying to feel out how Athos felt about this whole situation, but Athos wanted to focus on Porthos, and when Bonnaire tried to excuse himself by pretending he was squeamish, Athos joined the others. Getting Porthos’ attention, he punched him so hard he knocked him out, which was the best way to deal with him: they had learned that in the past. Nicolas kept watch on Bonnaire and Aramis worked, d’Artagnan noticing that Athos was on edge. He didn’t want to be here…at all…but he was, and he was trying to get his thoughts together.

Athos had loved Anne de Breuil with all that he had, and when she betrayed him, he had felt his heart shatter and never thought he’d love again. He’d given up this title and this estate, let the servants go, and had thought that he would never have to come back here. Deal with it. He had become a Musketeer, but then he had met Clara, and suddenly he was letting walls down, falling in love, and now he had agreed to someday marry her and this place? _It still haunted him_. How could he make a new life with her if he couldn’t even stand to walk these halls?

He wanted to start fresh with her.

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

Even Nicolas could tell that something was off with his friend, and when Bonnaire’s wife came looking for him with a gun, he knew that the discussion still had to wait. He wanted to have it _now_ , but instead they were mounting up to chase them, all because it was too hard for one of them to shoot a lady…or a lady’s horse.

Instead, they were galloping through the forest trying to keep him in their sights, ambushed by the two men in black that they had encountered before. What was even more odd, was that when Nicolas faced off against one, they addressed him in _Spanish_ , and he knew that something was very, very wrong. This was so much more than just running from enemies: this was Spain. Even though Queen Anne was the queen of France, she was the sister to the King of Spain, and they were very much enemies right now, but he was a Musketeer. Even with Spanish blood in his veins, he was a Frenchman, like his father before him.

He was loyal to _France_.

While it pained him that Bonnaire’s wife was caught in the crossfire, Aramis was able to get the man and drag him back to Athos’ neglected estate, and there Porthos was up and he was angry. He wasn’t fully recovered, but he used his good arm to backhand Bonnaire, explaining that his plans involved a slave ship. Nicolas was as incensed as Porthos, upset when the other three seemed to be less upset. It was cruel, and it was disgusting, but as Athos had pointed out, it was not a crime. Right now, it simply meant that none of them liked Bonnaire, but they had to fulfill their duty to the king.

So, they had Bonnaire dig a grave for his wife, covering her with some sheets and carrying her over to bury her, saying a few words. They didn’t want to just leave her there, and even though Bonnaire seemed more broken, he also seemed more willing to help. Unfortunately, Athos was in a bad way emotionally, Nicolas could tell, and he wasn’t really helping. He was spending too much time alone and Nicolas asked d’Artagnan to go and check on him, not surprised when the young man came back and told him that Athos wasn’t coming.

“I need to bring the gifts for the King,” Bonnaire argued with them.

Nicolas shook his head. “No, they stay here. We are getting to Paris as quickly as we can, and they will simply weigh us down.”

“We should wait for Athos,” d’Artagnan voiced.

“We should have faith that Athos is handling his own affairs and will join us shortly,” Aramis told him without skipping a beat.

He hadn’t been part of their band for all that long, but they knew that this had to be hard for the man. This was where his whole life had gone wrong, and while they didn’t know to what extent, they knew that in order to move forward with Clara, he had to put to bed whatever it was that he was feeling here. Nicolas more than anyone else, wanted him to do that, so he got a donkey for Bonnaire to ride on, and ushered the others to move.

They were running out of time.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

This business of dead wives had made Athos visit the tree where he had had Remi, the blacksmith in town, hang Anne de Breuil from, and he went to visit the man in town. When he entered the place it seemed eerie, especially given Athos had seen the man when they’d entered town, but from the looks of it, he had slit his own throat. That made Athos feel even more guilty about it all, and he went back to the estate to drink himself into a stupor.

When he awoke from the drunken daze, he smelled smoke, stumbling toward the room it was coming from, and seeing fire. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned, only to see his ‘dead’ wife holding a torch, just as beautiful as he remembered her. That dark hair and those green eyes, were all that he could remember these days, and at first, he thought that he was seeing a ghost, because this couldn’t be happening. None of this could be real, because he had been there when the rope was put around her neck and she was hung from that tree on the grounds.

“You’re dead,” he managed, eyes fixed on her. “I watched you hang.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t watch though, did you? You couldn’t stand to see your beloved wife, _choking_ on the end of a rope.”

“Remi…” he breathed, all of it starting to make sense to him now.

“I seduced him. As soon as you fled, he cut me down and revived me,” she explained to him. “But look,” she continued, pulling her choker down to show her scar from the noose she was supposed to die by, “I still carry the token of your love.”

The only reason that Athos had had her killed in the first place, was because of what had happened with her and his brother. She had killed him when he had found out that she was a criminal using a fake identity because she was supposed to get close to him. Thomas had always been the favorite, and with him gone and her responsible, he knew that he had to make sure that she was gone too. Right as he was trying to close this chapter of his life and move on with a woman that made him feel as whole as Clara did…why did she have to be here? Clearly not at all dead?

“You killed Remi…” Athos pieced together.

She scoffed a little. “Put out of his misery more like. He spent the last five years worried you’d come back and figure out what he did.”

Lunging for her, Athos missed and turned to face her again, shaking his head. “I’m dreaming…”

“Drunk perhaps…but not dreaming.” She explained, hand still carrying the lit torch.

Moving, she swung it at him, the torch making contact with Athos’ face and knocking him over. There was such a large part of him that felt like he deserved this because he’d sentenced her to die, but she _was_ a criminal and a murderess, and as he lie there on his back, the house burning around them, he thought of _Clara_. Of how if he died here like this, she’d be heartbroken and that too would have been because of _him_. Because of this moment where both of his lives had collided.

“Why are you here?” Athos managed to get out, too drunk and daze by the hit of the torch to get up just then.

She looked down at him. “To erase the past. To destroy it completely. I’d think with the new life that you’re trying to have, you would have wanted that. I’m glad you came back though…it’s only right that you should die in this house.”

“Where you killed my brother,” Athos spat at her.

“I killed Thomas to save our love,” she protested, getting down on the floor with him and pulling a dagger out and placing it against his throat.

Athos swallowed. “You killed him because he discovered the truth. That you were a criminal, who lied and tricked your way into my life.”

“He was a _fool_ and a _hypocrite_. He deserved to die!” she told him, but it was obvious that she was hurting right now too. “I thought you would understand that!”

Regardless of falling in love, all of Athos’ words had been true and they had stung her. She had lied and tricked her way into his life under an alias, never truly telling him a thing about her dark life, but she had loved him. And he had loved her. When things fell apart, killing Thomas had been the only thing she could think of, and it had backfired. She had lost him then, for good, and now she had a new alias and she knew that he was ready to be married again, and it had driven her here.

Burning down the place where they had been happy once.

Getting rid of all evidence of this part of her life.

The house was falling apart around them now, however, as the fire grew, and as she looked up and Athos tried to will himself to stand, she looked back at him. She noticed the locket around his neck and opened it up, seeing the picture of ‘forget-me-nots’. They were _their_ flower and for a moment she almost felt sentimental, but then she heard d’Artagnan shouting for Athos. He was about to ruin everything, and she had to flee, Athos getting up as d’Artagnan entered the room. Helping him fully to his feet, d’Artagnan helped him out of the house, and they sat on the ground outside as the estate burned behind them.

“What happened?” d’Artagnan asked as he got him some water, shaking his head. “Who was that woman that fled on the horse?”

Athos looked at the burning house. “Since we arrived, I felt her presence everywhere. I thought I was imagining it.”

“Who? Who?” d’Artaganan asked, because his friend wasn’t making any sense.

“My wife. She died five years ago now, by my orders,” he admitted, pain etched into his words as he held back tears and sorrow. “She was a cold-blooded murderer, so I had her taken from the house and hung from the branch of a tree.”

“Look at me. Look at me!” d’Artagnan yelled, forcing the man to do just that. “Are you saying that the ghost of your dead wife tried to kill you?”

Athos shook his head. “She’s not dead, d’Artagnan. She survived.”

It was so hard for him to get those words out, not just because it meant that she was alive, but because it meant that life was so much more complicated. A part of him would always love Anne de Breuil, but she was a phantom, and Lady Clara Bordeaux was his future, but what happened next? How did they move past this part when it was so complicated? When the wound hurt so much? Just before this mission he had been so happy and right now? He was a very broken man.

“This was her revenge?” d’Artagnan asked him slowly.

Taking another breath, Athos continued. “It was my duty. It was my duty to uphold the law!” he told d’Artagnan, shaking him a little as he grabbed his jacket, angrier now. “My duty to condemn the woman I loved to death. I’ve clung to the belief that I had no choice. Five years learning how to live in a world without her…five years falling for another woman that I cannot see myself being able to live without…” he added in, his thoughts ever on Clara. Pulling away from d’Artagnan and out of his grip, Athos shook his head. “So, what do I do now? Where do I go from here?”

He wasn’t expecting any kind of answer, but d’Artagnan took a few breaths and then they both watched the house burn a little longer before Athos got up. More than anything he wanted to sober up and get to Clara, and he told d’Artagnan not to tell anyone a word of this. All of this would sound so much better coming from him, and he knew that with how protective Clara was over him, she’d be incensed if she found out that d’Artagnan had known first. If they were still to try to make a life together, he had to tell her everything that had happened. So, they got things together, and when morning came, they rode to follow after the others, who were delivering Bonnaire to the King. Athos knew that they would manage it, and he gave a nod to d’Artagnan when they caught up to the one scout they hadn’t been able to dispose of in the forest.

“I’ll take care of our Spanish friend,” Athos managed to tell him. “You get to the others. And remember…don’t tell them a thing.”

d’Artagnan nodded at him. “You have my word.”

He knew that they understood each other and he spurred his horse on, following the Spaniard to the roof, where he pulled his pistol on him. The man was clearly trying to execute Bonnaire from within the palace walls, and it wasn’t to be tolerated. Bringing him to the king as well, it was learned that the Spanish King wanted Louis to hand him over Bonnaire, and while the Musketeers knew that Bonnaire was being paid under the radar, the King did not…so they had to come up with a way to get around the fact that Bonnaire was being protected by the Cardinal.

So, they went to where Bonnaire was celebrating, in the tavern in Paris, and they set up a very elaborate scheme with Paul. They started a bar fight, and then ushered Bonnaire out, d’Artagnan getting him onto a Spanish ship where he would be taken to Spanish prison. Laughing amongst themselves afterwards, Athos slipped Paul the key to Bonnaire’s warehouse, and told him to get out what he wanted before the Cardinal took his inventory.

“No one must ever know of this,” Athos told Paul. “This is treason…”

Paul smiled at him. “My lips are sealed.”

“So,” Athos began as Paul left the tavern. “As far as anyone knows, the Spanish kidnapped Bonnaire.”

“Embarrassing, but no one can do a thing about it,” Porthos put in, drinking his drink.

They all smiled and exchanged looks, it too late at night for Nicolas to want to pick a fight or have a conversation. Instead, they all broke apart for the night, and Athos found himself alone in his house, sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. He wanted more than anything to make everything in his life work but for that? He had to talk to Clara.


	6. Care and Confessions

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**There’s a sex scene in this chapter.**

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Clara had almost expected Athos to come with Nicolas when he got home, but Nicolas had explained to her that things had been kind of hard. They’d had to stop at Athos’ old house that he had shared with his late wife, and Clara knew when he said that, that Athos was going through enough. He probably needed space, so she was catching up on her reading that morning because Anne too needed her space. She and Louis were trying for a baby again, and Clara wanted to give them all the time in the world to make their dream a reality. She hadn’t been expecting there to be a knock on the door.

Getting up, Clara went to go and answer it, having dismissed the staff for the day because she didn’t need the help when it was just her. Marina was with Constance and Perrine, and Nicolas was with Odette getting things ready for their wedding and just spending time with one another. So, Clara had expected to spend the rest of the morning/afternoon on her own, but to her surprise and _pleasure_ , it was Athos on the other side of the door.

“Good morning!” Clara greeted, opening the door up wider for him and motioning him in. “Come in, come in.”

Athos nodded, waiting for her to close the door before his lips found hers, his fingers sliding into her hair as she hummed against him. He had missed her, and her him, but she hadn’t expected _this_ reaction to seeing her after he’d had to deal with his old home. She had expected him to want some space, but here he was, pulling her body tight up against his own and her arms slipped around him automatically. This felt so _good_ , and Clara was honestly just glad to be with him.

The smile on his face made her smile too, especially when he pressed a kiss to her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair. Every bit of this was calming for him, and after everything that he had dealt with, with Anne de Breuil, he knew that he needed to find a center. There was no easier way to find that, than with Clara, and he pressed a few more kisses to her lips before he knew he had to stop and talk to her. She had probably already had some breakfast, so he’d just make some small talk—in fact he smiled when she offered him coffee.

“That sounds wonderful,” he admitted, heading with her into the dining room and letting himself settle as she got the coffee pot and some cups for them.

There was cream and sugar on the table, and Clara took a breath. “I wasn’t actually expecting you to be here. I thought that you had things to do: Musketeer business.”

“Perhaps later, but I had time to kill and I wanted to spend it with you, not with the others. Everyone has things to do besides train…even though d’Artagnan _has_ been taking up some of our time lately,” Athos gave a little nod. “He is proving to be a nice addition—I know you still don’t trust him.”

“Because he showed up to take you away from me,” Clara said almost immediately, and she blushed when she did so. That had fully caught Athos’ attention and now he was focused on her again, and she didn’t know what to say. “I…I simply do not know how to forgive him.”

Athos nodded slowly. “Even if it wasn’t his fault?”

“I know that he had been misinformed and I cannot continue to hold it against him,” Clara sighed, looking at Athos as she moved her chair closer to his. “I just almost lost you.”

Now would have been the _perfect_ time to tell her about the estate burning down and about how d’Artagnan had pulled him from the fire, but the admission was sticking with him. He didn’t want to lose her and she didn’t want to lose him, and he simply wanted to be _close to her_ right now. There wasn’t much else more than that in his mind right now, and he leaned in, smiling when Clara smiled at him and leaned in too. Soon the distance between them was closed, their lips together, and Athos let out a gentle moan against her lips, making her laugh a little and pull back, eyes on his.

“Is this your way of seducing me again?” she teased, motioning to the door. “Because my bedroom is upstairs if you are…”

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

“I just don’t get how you do it,” Marina told Constance with a little shrug, sipping the tea that had been made for her. “I want to say that you seem like you are very happy, but I don’t know if you are.”

Constance gave her a smile and a shrug. “I do not always agree with my husband, but he is still my husband and I do care for him.”

“But do you _love_ him?” Marina asked her slowly.

Even if the answer that Constance gave her was a ‘no’, she still didn’t approve of any of the flirting happening between Constance and d’Artagnan. It was not proper for a married woman to have an affair, nor did she think it proper for men to take mistresses, and she could not think of a single reason for Constance to cheat on her husband. If she was truly unhappy, then there was always divorce, and while that wasn’t all that proper either, it was legal. At least that way, Constance was a free woman if she truly wanted to have something to do with d’Artagnan in the first place.

“He is my husband, of course I do,” Constance responded, but Marina wasn’t convinced.

She had been seeing love in people’s eyes quite a bit lately, and she didn’t see that connection between Constance and her husband. Marina remembered seeing it between Perrine and her late husband, and she saw it with Nicolas and Odette, but Constance didn’t look at her husband like he was her whole world. Looking up when Perrine came back into the room from using the bathroom, Marina gave her friend a smile, laughing a little.

“What did I miss?” Perrine asked slowly.

Constance blushed and shook her head. “Nothing, really.”

“Just making some small talk. I only have so much time before I have to get back to the palace, but I want to give Louis and Anne all the time they could want and need,” Marina admitted, blushing when the other two smiled.

“I wouldn’t mind a big royal announcement about a baby,” Constance told her. “I know from what you’ve said how much the King and Queen want it. Besides, Clara would be kind of ecstatic to get to be a pseudo aunt. She and the Queen are very close. Much closer than I’d expect a Queen and her lady in waiting to be.”

Nodding, Marina took a breath. “They have bonded a lot. When the Queen needs things when she is emotionally compromised, I take care of all of the outside influences. Talking to people, making sure she has what she needs…Clara takes care of _her_. Because of that, they have a bond that is untouchable. You two and I, however, have their bond. We’ve known each other for so long. Nicolas was a Musketeer before the others.”

“I still find it strange he wanted to do that,” Perrine explained with a shrug. “He could be using his influence as a Duke for more.”

Marina had to agree with that sentiment, but she also knew that Nicolas had inherited everything that was their father’s. The lands, the power, the people. He had his own principality, but he had a few men that were able to help manage things for him while he did Musketeer business. Part of his relationship with Louis was swayed by them being allied, but there was no one that Nicolas would rather be allied with than King Louis XIII. They were also close, but because he was under Treville as a Musketeer currently, Louis took counsel with Treville mostly.

“Someday he’ll just be a Duke. When he and Odette get married, he wants to settle down,” Marina admitted, smiling when they did.

They wanted him to be happy, and so did she, the three of them finishing up their tea and then going their separate ways. Marina had expected her sister to meet up with her eventually, but she wanted to see Nicolas and went to the Garrison, running into Aramis. Nicolas was still with Odette and that was fine, because Marina didn’t mind getting to talk to Aramis just the two of them. There was a tiny part of her that felt bad for slapping him the last time they’d been semi alone, but she smiled at him.

“You look radiant this morning,” Aramis told her, laughing when she rolled her eyes. “You also do not take flattery very well.”

Marina smiled and shook her head. “Not from you, I don’t.”

“I’m wounded,” he laughed, knowing she was teasing. “Also, I’m surprised to see you.”

“I am not always in the company of the Queen,” Marina explained, shrugging her shoulders. “I have a whole manner of things I have to attend to that are not the Queen. I also manage a lot of the gatherings that Nicolas throws.”

“Bordeaux is very good at gatherings,” Aramis agreed, looking Marina in the eye and reveling in the gentle moment between them. “It’s nice…”

“What is?” Marina asked him, still making eye contact with him and smiling.

“Talking to you and not getting slapped.” Aramis responded honestly.

Laughing, Marina looked down a moment and then her eyes met Aramis’ again. “Do you want to get slapped? Because I can slap you if it will make you feel more comfortable.”

“No, no,” Aramis responded, laughing too as she laughed more. It had clearly been a joke and he was happy for it. Perhaps he’d never looked at her in this light before, because she was Nicolas’ youngest sister, but Marina was beautiful, and she was nice to be around. “When is Nicolas’ next dinner?”

“Odette wants to host one next month. Will you be there?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

Athos hadn’t come here expecting to sleep with Clara again, but when she’d mentioned her bedroom, he couldn’t ignore the blood that had rushed to his member. She was _initiating_ this, and so he followed her up the stairs, hand in hers, Clara feeling her heart speed up. Even though Anne hadn’t given her any actual pointers, but she didn’t feel like she needed them when she pulled Athos into her room with her, his lips crashing into hers as she closed the door behind her.

Every time he brought her body up against his own, she felt like she fit perfectly in his arms, and she hummed against his lips as his hands slid down her curves to her hips and brought them against his own. After everything he’d gone through, she’d thought that maybe they would talk, but he wanted to be with her right now, and she wanted to be with him. She’d missed him and wanted to try and take any pain away that he might be feeling after whatever had happened when he went to go and intercept Bonnaire, and she was grateful that he wanted to be this close to her.

They both knew this wasn’t the most _appropriate_ choice.

“I missed you,” Athos whispered against her lips as his hands moved up to give her breasts a squeeze through her dress. “For more than just this.”

Shaking her head at the admission, Clara smiled. “I know I mean more to you than this.”

“I would hope so,” he told her as he ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her again. “You mean so much to me, Clara…”

“You mean so much to me too,” Clara promised, closing her eyes with a smile on her face when he rested his forehead against her own.

He had never thought that he would have another chance at happiness like this, but as she rolled up on the balls of her feet to kiss him again, he moaned. She was a piece of him, in such a different way than Anne de Breuil had been, and while he knew that he had to tell her about that, she was nipping at his lip and he couldn’t focus. Not on his wife. Not on what had happened when his house had burnt down. Just on Clara and how she made him feel.

Knowing how he’d made her feel last time, Clara let her hand slip down his body to rub against him through his trousers, feeling him harden under her touch. He made a needy whimper against her lips and started to move her toward her bed. A noise slipped when she felt her legs hit the bed, but she braced herself and pulled out of the kiss, shaking her head at him. That look of _need_ in his eyes caught her off guard for a moment, but she let her hand rub him a little more through his pants before she tugged at his shirt, getting it off of him and tossing it aside.

Her lips moved to his chest, pressing tender kisses against his pecks, chuckling a little against his skin as he said her name. The tone was pleading, and she felt empowered in the moment, pulling back only enough to turn them around so _he_ was up against the bed, getting his trousers undone and pushing them down his legs before she pushed on him gently. As he sat on the bed and looked up at her, he felt _stunned_ : she was stunning. The way she smirked a little as she unlaced her bodice and made him watch without getting to touch her, feeling more aroused this second time around than he had the first.

Clara was going slowly to ramp up his anticipation, and he found a hand going to his member to stroke until she clicked her tongue at him, making him chuckle a little and nod, leaning back on his arms instead. God, she was making this painfully perfect for him, and his raked over her body as she got undressed, letting her clothes pool around her. Even the blush when she was bared before him got to him, and his hands went to touch her the moment she climbed onto the bed with him to straddle his lap, a hum escaping her.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known,” Athos whispered, covering her mouth with his as she settled against his lap and ground gently. Moaning into her mouth, he tugged at her hair gently, which only made her grind against his lap a little more. “You’re going to be the death of me…”

Laughing a little, Clara shook her head and pushed on him a little. “Never. Never death.”

Smiling at the gentle tone she used to say it, he laid down, keeping her body against his own as his back rested against her mattress. It was finer than his and incredibly comfortable, Athos grunting with want as her hand slipped between them to wrap around them, Clara wanting to _feel_ him. This was different than last time, and she loved the way it felt to have him make sounds against her lips, but she wanted every inch of him again, hoping this was already far less awkward for him. It was no longer their first time, and she wanted him to look forward to this kind of time together with her.

Pressing a more passionate kiss to his lips, Clara moved a little so that she was more lifted up on his lap, pressing the tip of his member to her entrance and taking the tip in. She still wasn’t used to that sensation, but she knew she’d liked the feel of him deeper before, so she let herself slowly sink down on him, lost in the kiss as his fingers buried into her hair. When she took him to the hilt, she stilled for a moment above him, adjusting until he moved his hips. The movement made her moan, and the moan made it hard for him to hold himself back.

After five years of mostly celibacy, Athos almost felt spoiled by all the touch and sensations he could revel in with Clara, and his hands ran down her body to her hips. She wasn’t quite ready when he started to move her, but the gasp that slipped past her lips became a loud sound of pleasure as he tightened his grip on her hips and helped her move up down on the length of him, his hips moving so that every time he brought her down on him, his hips were thrusting to help push him up into her.

He groaned at how good it felt to have her riding him, Clara setting a pace now as she got used to it, hands on his chest. Athos watched as her breasts smacked against her skin as she moved, his hands slipping up to massage them as she controlled how she lifted and came down. The smacking of skin and the way she moaned his name had him turned on, his fingers playing with the taut peaks of her breasts as he let her hear his sounds as well.

That pleasure was building up in her stomach again as Clara started to flex her toes, knowing where this was leading. She started riding him faster, bringing herself down on him harder, feeling herself almost lose it when Athos moaned her name loudly, starting to tell her how beautiful and perfect she was. Clara wanted so desperately to feel that bliss again, and rode him as quick as she could without completely losing the rhythm, her cry hitching a little as she came, Athos’ hands going for her hips. She was so lost in her orgasm that he was controlling this now, thrusting until he came too, bringing her down on him so he was buried to the hilt, holding her there as he lost himself.

For a moment bliss washed over them, but she moved a little as the world came back and he groaned, pressing kisses to his face before lips met. She was so happy, letting him turn them over, laughing a little as he almost slipped out, only to thrust in again before he kissed the inner part of her shoulder and slipped out. In a little bit he’d see if she wanted to go again, but he swallowed as she ran her fingers through his hair and instead he just pressed kisses to her damp skin before he found himself lying on his side next to her, fingertips running along her arm as she lay on her back.

“Are you alright?” she asked him slowly.

Athos pressed a kiss to her lips and nodded. “When I’m with you, I always am.”

“Sappy, but I’m glad,” she told him, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want to ruin the moment, but can I ask what happened with Bonnaire? Nicolas made it seem like you had a hard time.”

“Yes…it was eye opening,” he admitted, not wanting to ruin this moment, but he needed to have this conversation with her too, and he kissed her skin some more as he thought of what to say. “I trust d’Artagnan with my life. I know you have not been his biggest fan, but my estate burned down, and he dragged me from the fire.”

Clara was suddenly more alert, a part of her grateful to d’Artagnan for saving the man that she felt like she loved. Athos was everything that she wanted, and she couldn’t imagine a future without him, so the fact that d’Artagnan had saved him? In her mind it made up for falsely accusing Athos when they had met. Not much could have done that for her, but Athos trusted him, the other Musketeers trusted him, and he had saved the man she loved. That admission in itself made Clara pull Athos closer to her, lips placing kisses along his jaw.

“I did not know it was that bad,” Clara whispered, kissing him lovingly. “Why did no one tell me?”

Athos took a breath. “Because only d’Artagnan knew. He came back to get me when the others had Bonnaire, to escort him to the King. I do not know exactly why she came back, other than for revenge, but my dead wife? She came back, and she burned our house down.”

For a moment Clara wasn’t sure what she had just heard, but as Athos explained to her what had happened, she got it: Anne de Breuil was still alive. She had faked her death to escape and had come back for revenge and he was only telling her _now_. After they’d been sexually intimate again, and what did she do now? The biggest part of her was feeling selfish, and she didn’t want to lose him. He was hers now, he wasn’t Anne de Breuil’s, but was that true? Did she get to keep him?

The whole loving atmosphere had suddenly changed, and while she still felt a deep connection with him, she was feeling _hurt_. Instead of telling her all of this before, they’d just had great comfort sex and _now_ he was disclosing rather important information. She wanted to glare and get out of the bed and yell at him, but the best she could do was sit up and tug the covers around her, putting space between them.  Her legs felt shaky, and she was still trying to make sense of the information that she had just received.

“I don’t know where to go from here…” Clara found herself saying, looking at Athos with eyes that were starting to feel with tears.

Athos was feeling awful here and reached for her, nodding when she shook her head. “Ma chérie…”

“If she’s still alive, then what does that mean?” Clara asked him, taking a deep breath so that she wouldn’t cry, even if part of her wanted to.

“It does not change the promise that I made to you,” Athos promised, speaking up when she started to argue with him. “She deceived me. She pretended to be someone she was not. She killed my brother, and then she seduced the man that was supposed to kill her, just to save her own skin. As far as the church is concerned, I am a widower. As far as I am concerned, I am a widower. I promised that I would court you, and I do not intend to go back on that promise. She tried to burn me alive in the house we once shared, and I do not want any part of that life before. My life now…is with _you_.”

Clara took a breath as she took the information in and realized something: if she truly loved this man like she thought she did, she was going to have to _trust_ him.

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

Marina was well aware of what was going on with her sister and Athos now, and while she was firmly against it because of the complications it could cause, she also was happy for her. Her sister had found someone to love that she trusted with her whole heart, and someday, Marina wanted the same thing. Instead, for the next couple of weeks, she was distracted by Aramis because the Duke of Savoy was going to pay a visit. He was married to Louis’ sister, and as a Lady in Waiting, she had to be there when they arrived—as did the Musketeers.

Unfortunately, the Duke of Savoy’s men had once taken out a whole regiment of Musketeers, and she knew that Aramis was still plagued by it. Even though he had to play nice, and address the Duke with respect, he had been one of the only survivors of that encounter and he had to be mentally wounded by it. That thought had Marina completely distracted, eying Aramis as they all stood waiting. He was late now, to the peace treaty they wanted to make, and she only occasionally caught Clara and Athos’ looks and little smiles at each other. They were adorable, certainly, but this was an occasion in which everyone had to be on their very best. When the Duke of Savoy finally showed, the King and Queen rose from their chairs outside to walk with Captain Treville and the Cardinal to greet the Duke, his wife and the other men, Clara and Marina staying back a little with the Musketeers.

“Victor,” Louis greeted the Duke of Savoy, giving him a smile. “How was your trip?”

The Duke looked him in the eye. “Horrible. Your French roads are full of potholes.”

“But it was worth every bump and bruise to see you again,” the Duchess cut in, kissing Louis’ hand.

“I have missed you, Sister,” Louis told her, he and Anne smiling a little at her. “More than I can say.”

As pleasantries were exchanged, Marina kept her eyes on Aramis, able to catch then, when d’Artagnan and Nicolas both moved, seeing something in the distance. Suddenly a shot was fired, the Musketeers and Treville moving to get the King and Queen, and her and Clara to safety as quickly as they could. No one really had any idea as to what was going on, but Clara grabbed Anne and Marina’s hands and tugged them along. Porthos stayed behind a moment to make sure that the ladies were alright, while Nicolas, d’Artagnan and Aramis ran off in the direction of where the shot had been fired from, Marina wishing this hadn’t really been how this encounter had gone.

The Duke was already making a scene about how this was a blatant attack on his life, and how he didn’t want to sign the peace treaty now. It wasn’t her place to speak up, nor was it Clara’s or even Anne’s, but it was obvious that they were as annoyed with the Duke as she was right now. They had been taken to safety by Treville, and the Duke of Savoy had the _audacity_ to suggest that it was some kind of conspiracy to take him out. To her, that meant that the Duke had never been coming her to make peace—not really. If he was this hellbent on believing that France wasn’t to be trusted, then he had believed that before he had ever set foot back here at the palace.

Meant the Duchess must have gotten him here.

“Such accusations are wild and dangerous,” Louis reminded the Duke, Anne standing right by his side as Marina and Clara stood behind her.

The Cardinal nodded. “And wholly untrue.”

“We only have your word for that, and we all know the Cardinal’s promises are written in water,” the Duke’s envoy spoke up.

“Perhaps our cousins, the Spanish, will be more welcoming.” The Duke agreed.

Captain Treville shook his head. “My men are searching for the assassin. At least delay any rash action until we know his motives.”

“Captain Treville is right, we must wait for the facts,” the Duchess spoke up, moving towards her husband in an attempt to calm him down. After all, he was threatening her brother’s country, and her brother for all intents and purposes.

“Spoken like a true daughter of France,” the Duke spit out angrily.

Moving closer to him, the Duchess’ voice softened. “I am the Duchess of Savoy and your loving wife before I am anything.”

It was in that moment that Marina could see the Duke’s eyes soften, and it warmed her heart a little to see that he did in fact love his wife. They might have made a marriage of _convenience_ for France, but it was clear that he loved and trusted her, even if he didn’t trust anything else that was French and came out of this palace. Once again, Marina was blind sighted with love that she wished that she could have the opportunity to feel. She did not need to be married anytime soon, but she _wanted_ to be. Perhaps it was time to revisit the opportunity with Nicolas and get him to arrange her a match. After all, she was more than old enough for marriage at this point.

“Forgive me, my love. I spoke in anger,” the Duke told the Duchess, his voice much softer too.

Anne spoke up this time. “The shot could have hit any one of us. At such a time, we should remember what unites us. We are family after all,” she put in, taking Louis’ hand and smiling when their fingers interlaced.

“Savoy does not wish to be your enemy,” the Duke admitted, giving a little nod, if only just for the sake of his wife, “but our trust will not be abused. If France will not guarantee our security, Spain will.”

“Allow the Spanish into your country,” the Cardinal began, walking closer to the Duke, “and your independence will be lost forever.”

“Thank you,” the Duke responded in a sarcastic tone. “I know you have Savoy’s interests close to your heart.” Looking from the Cardinal to Louis, the Duke spoke again. “We will postpone signing the treaty while you establish the truth of this outrage. In the meantime, I am content to accept your hospitality.”

As he exited the room, Anne and Louis dropped hands and Marina and Clara moved to take her back to her room, all of them worried. Clara wanted to know how the Musketeers were fairing, and perhaps see Athos, and Marina wanted to know if Aramis was well. After they settled Anne in, they’d be able to go and inquire about their brother and the others, but not until then.

**xXxXx**

**ARAMIS**

While Aramis wanted to make sure that Marina and the others were alright personally, but he was trying to figure out what was going on here. At a different part of the palace, he found a rope hanging down, only to then find himself snuck up on, a knife to his neck as someone behind him started talking. He recognized the voice as Marsac, the other Musketeer that had been left behind when the Duke had attacked their regiment. Marsac was no longer a Musketeer as Aramis was, and had devoted his life to trying to figure out who had betrayed their location to the Duke all those years ago…he was also the one that had tried to kill the Duke. As Aramis tried to wrap his head around this, he heard a gun cock, and turned to see that d’Artagnan had come over this way as well.

“Care to tell me what’s going on?” d’Artagnan asked, his gun pointed at Marsac.

Aramis took a breath and held his hands up, moving in between the two. “Marsac’s an old friend.”

“An old friend?” d’Artagnan asked him. “And old friend who just tried to kill the Duke of Savoy.”

“Hear him out.” Aramis told d’Artagnan as Marsac moved just a little bit. “Marsac was one of the best soldiers in the regiment.”

That made d’Artagnan do a double take. “He’s a Musketeer?”

“He was,” Aramis said with a nod.

“We were brothers once,” Marsac added, looking Aramis in the eye as he came to stand in front of him again. “For the sake of our old friendship, let me prove what I know!”

Aramis still didn’t know exactly _what_ he believed, but he could tell that Marsac believed what it was that he was saying, and he felt he owed him. Giving a little nod, he moved back over to d’Artagnan and lowered his voice, hoping that the young man would just take him at his word. He still wasn’t a Musketeer, but Aramis trusted him the same way he trusted Nicolas and Athos and Porthos. If he could get someone like d’Artagnan to hear him out, then he could get the others to listen to him and Marsac as well, and they needed answers.

“I need you to keep quiet about this for now,” Aramis told him slowly.

d’Artagnan made a face. “Have you gone mad?”

“Possibly, but…I owe him my life,” Aramis admitted with a glance toward Marsac.

Sighing loudly, d’Artagnan pointed at him. “If this gets me hanged, I’m going to take it _very_ personally.”

Nodding, Aramis pat d’Artagnan’s hand, and then they came up with the idea to keep Marsac with Constance as a lodger. They pretended he was a cabinet-maker, and even though d’Artagnan didn’t like lying to her, they needed to keep this as quiet as possible. That meant even from the others, even though Aramis really didn’t like lying to them. At least this way, he had a little time to ease them into it and figure out where to go from here.

“Well, if you’re willing to vouch for him,” Constance told them, “he can stay in d’Artagnan’s room.”

Nodding, Aramis and Marsac let her pass, Marsac checking her out before d’Artagnan spoke up. “She’s married…and a friend.”

“I was merely admiring from a distance,” Marsac promised him.

“Make it a far distance,” d’Artagnan explained, and Aramis noted the tone there.

He was protective of her because he had a thing for her, but he wasn’t doing anything about it because she was married. She was trying to be a proper wife and lady, and while she had a thing for d’Artagnan as well—that much was obvious—she wasn’t making a move on it. Instead, Constance was doing what she needed to do as a wife, and also doing favors for the Musketeers when they called because of Nicolas and Athos. Both treated her so well and were so respectful, and she just assumed that what one of them needed, they _all_ needed.

Tying Marsac to the bed, Aramis looked up when he asked, “Where would I go if I left?”

“I don’t know,” Aramis admitted to him. “That’s why I’m not letting you loose.” Laying a hand on his shoulder, Aramis sighed and shook his head. “I’ve thought of you many times. Wondered how you were living.”

“Precariously,” Marsac told him. “A musket for hire, with thieves for company and one eye on the door. I’m weary of it.”

Aramis nodded slowly. “Your name is held in contempt amongst your old comrades. You’re a coward and a deserter. For that alone, you’re under sentence of death.”

“No one has the right to judge me!” Marsac spit at him. “You alone know what really happened.”

Aramis hated this, he really did, but he wanted to know the truth and he was willing to do anything to get it. He just hoped that he had made the right choice because this was bringing up so many thoughts. One training exercise gone wrong, Musketeers killed in their sleep, him and Marsac fighting to the end, Aramis wounded. He had passed out and when he woke up, everyone but the two of them were dead, and now there was no going back. Marsac had ridden away on a horse after discarding his uniform, and Aramis had returned to Treville. Now…he had to return to Athos and the others.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Not finding any sign of the shooter on the grounds, Athos returned to try and find Treville in the palace, seeing Clara and Nicolas, who was looking her over. In such a place, perhaps it was best that her brother be so attentive of her, but Athos wanted to make sure that she was alright as well. When Nicolas looked up and saw him come in, he gave a little nod and then went to go and see if he could locate Porthos so that they all could talk to Treville together. It was also strange that Aramis and d’Artagnan were nowhere to be found either, but the palace grounds _were_ large.

Moving toward Clara, he was grateful that she wasn’t as mad at him as she had been, but this had been dangerous, and he needed to see her. She wanted to make sure he was alright as well, hands moving automatically to his, which made him smile. Even when she was frustrated with him, it was clear that she cared about him, and that made this easier for him. Their predicament was really anything but, but he was glad that if he had to go through this, he was going through it with her and not alone.

“Are you alright?” he asked her before she could fuss over him.

Nodding, she gave him a smile. “I am. Treville got us to safety in record time. What about you? Did you find the shooter?”

“No trace of him,” Athos admitted, glancing around before he stole a quick kiss. She pushed on him and he smiled a little, knowing she didn’t want to seem improper in such a place as the palace. “I am actually a little surprised you are not with the Queen.”

“Anne retired to her room and Louis went to attend to her. The Duke thinks this whole mess is directly in correlation to him and I cannot say I’m not also in belief of that,” Clara sighed, shaking her head a little bit. “Loyal to her husband, perhaps, but the Duchess of Savoy is still King Louis’ sister. I cannot believe she wouldn’t want this treaty, but Savoy is…not well liked.”

Athos gave a little nod, letting a hand move to cup her face and tilt her chin up so their eyes met. “This treaty will be signed. I know you’re fretting about it.”

“Because Anne is fretting,” Clara admitted, stealing the kiss this time. She let it linger longer than she should have but looked Athos in the eye when she pulled away. “Please be safe.”

He was about to speak up about how of course he was going to be safe, but they heard footsteps and he pulled his touch away from her. She hated that he did, but knew they had to, and she gave a smile to the others when they all seemed to come in. Pointing the way toward Treville, she nodded at all of them, Athos letting their stare linger, before they went to talk to him in the Garrison. He was angry, and Athos could tell that on top of Treville being angry, Aramis and d’Artagnan were _hiding something_. Especially when d’Artagnan said he couldn’t catch the man because he had _slipped_.

“You slipped?” Treville asked d’Artagnan, clearly pissed.

“Wet grass…” d’Artagnan tried to explain.

Getting up in his face, Treville looked upset. “There’s a killer on the loose, and the security of the nation hangs by a thread, but at least little d’Artagnan didn’t get a nasty bruise.” The tone Treville was using would have made Clara ecstatic, Athos noted, but this was serious. “Athos. Porthos. Report to the palace in the morning. As long as the Duke is in France, his safety is now your responsibility. Nicolas. You might want to appeal to him as a Duke yourself and try to keep him in a better mood. And be vigilant. The assassin is still out there somewhere.”

Nodding, the five left, Nicolas speaking up when they were outside. “Hey—you were hiding something.”

“Both of you,” Athos agreed.

One of the many things that Athos liked about Nicolas, was that they were almost always on the same page. Perhaps it was that they were both the same amount of observant, having been nobility as well as Musketeers now, but they always knew. The others talked to them more easily than each other, more often than not—Nicolas being easier to talk to than Athos himself—and they were simply able to tell when the others weren’t being genuine.

“I suggest you tell us,” Nicolas told Aramis, looking from him to d’Artagnan. “I am not afraid to resort to physical violence…”

d’Artagnan looked at Aramis and gave a little nod. “If you don’t tell them, I will.”

“Tell us what?” Porthos asked slowly.

Sighing, Aramis gave in. “It was Marsac. We took him to Constance’s place.”

“You did _what_?!” Nicolas asked him suddenly. “Marina is going to have your head on a pike, and if I’m being completely honest with you, I don’t trust the man to be under her roof with her either!”

Athos was disappointed to say the least, and headed straight for Constance’s home, knowing full well that Clara would not be happy about this either. Constance was a good friend of theirs, and if the girls heard about Aramis stashing him there without telling Constance the truth, they would kill them all. The worst part of it, was that when Athos told Constance about it, she was _incensed_. There was a wanted man in her home that was a deserter and an assassin, and even d’Artagnan hadn’t warned her of it. It enraged her enough to tell d’Artagnan he couldn’t lodge there anymore, and Athos honestly couldn’t blame her at all for that decision.

When she stormed off, Porthos and Aramis laughed a little at d’Artagnan’s pain, but neither Nicolas nor Athos was amused. Even though Constance seemed to still be letting Marsac stay, she was angry about being lied to, and the fact of the matter was that this was a very serious issue. This man had tried to assassinate the Duke of Savoy, and he was claiming that it was all part of some bigger conspiracy that he honestly could not prove.

“Have you both completely lost your minds?” Athos asked them out loud.

Marsac spoke up. “Perhaps Athos doesn’t care about 20 dead Musketeers.”

“Insulting the man that holds your life in his hands,” Athos spoke up without skipping a beat. “I see you are a fool as well as a coward.”

That made Marsac bolt up from his sitting position, Athos getting up as well, but Nicolas and the others got in between them. Clearly Marsac did not like being called a coward, but Athos did not care to have his compassion picked upon, and everyone needed to calm down a little bit. Nicolas opened his mouth to speak up to try and break it up, but Aramis was the one who actually formed words first, and Nicolas agreed with him.

“Just hear him out,” Aramis told him. “If you don’t like what he has to say, then…I’ll do whatever it is that you suggest.”

Marsac didn’t like that, but he nodded. “There’s somebody you should speak to first.”


	7. Honorable Intentions

_Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and this is based on the show, not the books._

**xXxXx**

**NICOLAS**

Even though he really wasn’t one for any kind of actual torture, Nicolas had a feeling that this situation was going to become just that. Marsac had found a man in a bar bragging about killing Musketeers, and it was obvious that some of his information about the Duke had come from him. He was strung up a bit in an abandoned place, Nicolas looking at the others as Marsac kneed the guy a couple of times. Was this how information was found these days? Like this?

“Easy. He can’t talk if he’s out cold,” d’Artagnan warned him.

Nicolas nodded in agreement. “Let him speak.”

“I was a soldier, in the pay of the Duke of Savoy,” the guy who was strung up, began. “At Easter, five years ago, he told us the French had come to kill him and put his son in his place.”

“Go on…” Aramis gave a nod, moving closer to the man.

“We rolled out on Good Friday. Slaughtered the Musketeers as they slept,” he explained, everyone taking a breath and giving a little nod, Aramis taking off his hat. “They were snoozing like babies when we crept into their tents.”

“They were my friends!” Marsac yelled, hurting the man again.

Nicolas couldn’t watch that anymore, however, and he pulled Marsac off of him as the man offered to tell them all who gave the Duke information. This was why they were here and why Marsac was so interested in torturing him, and as Athos took Marsac off of Nicolas’ hands, Nicolas moved closer to him. He hated to think what would happen to this man once they got the information out of him, but he needed to hear a name because this plagued Aramis so badly.

“Who?” Nicolas asked him firmly.

The man spoke without hesitation. “I overheard him and his Chancellor, Cluzet, discussing his name. We knew where you were camped. We were tipped off.”

“What name did you hear?” Aramis asked, wanting him to get to the point. “Who betrayed the Musketeers?”

“Treville,” he answered. “It…it was Captain Treville.”

Hearing that name usually made Nicolas feel better, but to have this strung up man slander him like that, made him feel uneasy. He had known Treville for so long that it was hard to even think that he was _capable_ of something like that. Of betraying his own men. This man must have heard wrong, and they were all thinking it—all of them except from what it looked like, Aramis and Marsac.

“Well, it makes sense. Every man has his price,” Marsac said with no second thought.

Porthos started toward him. “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!”

Athos had to move between them now as Nicolas shook his head, trying to figure out why Treville would do such a thing. It _couldn’t_ be true. Treville and Duke Bordeaux had been thick as thieves, and there was no way that his father would be such great friends with a man that would turn on his own men. Why would Treville give an order like that? Nicolas refused to believe what he felt to be such a blatant lie, and he shook his head.

“Come on,” Athos said calmly, motioning for them all to move farther away.

They all followed him, d’Artagnan speaking up first. “The Captain? Really, the Captain? A traitor who organized the murder of his own men?”

If even d’Artagnan couldn’t believe it, then how could anyone else? He wasn’t even actually a Musketeer yet and didn’t have to trust him farther than he could throw him, but he was willing to stand by him no matter what happened. Even though he’d been a new addition to their team, Nicolas was glad that he was here and that he could trust _him_. At some point, Nicolas wanted to settle into just being a _Duke_ , and taking over every single thing that his father had left him. He almost felt like he could leave _now_ , but he wanted to wait until d’Artagnan officially became one of them.

“It’s impossible,” Nicolas agreed with him.

Porthos nodded. “Well, he’s lying.”

“How did the Duke find us so easily? Someone had to tell him,” Aramis pointed out. “Someone who know our orders. It was Treville who issued them.”

While Nicolas understood that, he and d’Artagnan could not get behind it, and neither could Porthos or Athos. They all kept looking at Aramis, who was eerily quiet, but then suddenly they heard a gasping sound and Athos was the first to rush over. He pulled Marsac off of the man, but he was already dead, so what could they do now? The man that had given them the information was now no longer able to give it to anyone else…this just got infinitely more complicated.

What was worse, was that now they had to bother Treville with it. They had to go and practically accuse him of getting his own men killed and how did they do that? How did _Nicolas_ do that? He was so in his debt and he didn’t like this at all, almost wanting to opt out of this whole endeavor, but that would be cowardly and he wanted to be there when this was thrown back into Marsac’s face. There was no way that a man as good and filled with honor as Treville, would sell out his own men.

“We heard accusations, there is no proof,” Athos reminded them all.

Marsac didn’t like that answer. “Then we’ll find proof.”

“There is no ‘we’ here,” Porthos and Nicolas said together, fairly done with this.

“Aramis, you were there,” Marsac tried, wanting someone on his side and knowing he could appeal to the only other one that might actually feel his pain. “You saw the butchered bodies.”

“You don’t need to remind me,” Aramis said angrily, shaking his head. “Athos is right: there is no proof.”

Scoffing, Marsac looked at him. “Don’t you want revenge?”

“I want justice,” Aramis said immediately.

It was probably the smartest thing that Nicolas had heard the man say all morning, but he knew this was far from over. Marsac wanted Treville dead and none of them had even asked Treville yet to his face what had happened. They owed him at least that, and Nicolas was so worried that even if he had said he didn’t do it, Marsac wouldn’t believe him. He was so lost in this hunt of his to figure out what happened, that Nicolas feared he couldn’t even see straight.

“We owe it to the Captain to clear his name,” Aramis told them with a little shrug.

d’Artagnan of all people almost rolled his eyes. “So we’re doing him a favor then?”

“This isn’t even any of your business,” Marsac threw at him. “You’re not even a Musketeer.”

“Apparently neither are you,” d’Artagnan responded, which made Marsac lunge at him, though Porthos was between them before anything happened.

“Don’t, go there,” Porthos said as he angrily pushed Marsac away from d’Artagnan. “Not if you enjoy breathing.”

They had all formed a bond with d’Artagnan, and while it was true that he was not officially a Musketeer, he was trying to prove himself. He wanted to be a Musketeer and they all knew that he had their back. Even after how things had begun, he trusted them and he fought by their side, and Nicolas would fight for him just as he’d fight for the others. The young man had been proving himself day in and day out, and Marsac wasn’t going to interfere with that.

“I don’t believe that Treville is guilty, and I never will, but we won’t stand in your way,” Athos told Aramis calmly, the rest of them nodding. “Do what you have to do. Only condition: Marsac stays under house arrest.”

He didn’t seem the most pleased, but Aramis nodded.

“During the massacre, I wounded their leader, a cut across the back.” Aramis put in as they started to lead Marsac away. “If it was the Duke that led the attack, he’ll still carry the scar.”

Nodding, Athos moved toward Aramis again. “Aramis, before you go down this road, ask yourself one question. If it is true? What then?”

**xXxXx**

**CLARA**

While she would rather be spending her time making up with Athos, she had to admit that she enjoyed getting to just sit at these outings with Anne and Marina. Now the Duchess was involved, and they all got to watch King Louis spar with his nephew, Louis Amadeus, and it was kind of adorable. Clara knew that it only made Anne want a child even more, seeing her husband so happy spending time with a young boy. Almost made Clara think about kids as well.

The only issue _there_ , was that she and Athos were nowhere near ready for children, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they’d have any. Would that be what he wanted? Yes, things were complicated with his dead wife actually being alive, but he wanted to move forward and so did she. They couldn’t get a divorce because everyone thought she was dead, and so she and Athos were in the clear there, but part of it still rubbed her the wrong way. Still, someday she wanted to be a wife and a mother, and she wanted that life with Athos. It was just that she didn’t know how to bring the conversation up with him, when he was still adjusting to their life courting.

“Do you still long for Paris?” Anne asked the Duchess, pulling Clara from her thoughts.

The Duchess paused as she watched her son and her brother. “Savoy is my home…and motherhood is a great distraction.”

“So I’m told,” Anne said softly, looking at her husband.

Clara could tell that what the Duchess said had struck a nerve, but she _had_ had more than one stillborn now and Clara didn’t know how she could bear it like this. She was still so optimistic and lovely, and Clara was sure she would have never been able to be this strong. The thought of getting to feel a child move in your stomach and then have to be told they are dead? It had been hard enough for Clara to learn that the child she’d been feeling in Anne’s belly had been dead…Anne was stronger than she.

When both Louis’ were finished, Anne and the Duchess took a walk together, Clara and Marina excusing themselves to go back inside. Anne did not need protection from them 24/7, and they were going inside to wander around the corridors with little Louis. It was important to Anne that she spend some time with her nephew, and as a Spanish woman that was now Queen of France, she wanted to ask the Duchess things that she thought she could only ask if they were alone.

“Anne doesn’t seem that happy lately,” Marina pointed out as she and her sister wandered as well.

Clara took a breath. “No, she doesn’t. I think her time of the month has come upon her and that means no baby.”

“That would be devastating,” Marina frowned. “Wait…is that swords I hear?”

They weren’t supposed to be anywhere near this meeting with the Cardinal, but they knew that the King had come this way. When they peeked into the room, they saw Athos sparring with the Duke of Savoy, and Clara had to amount she was a tiny bit aroused. Athos was the best sword fighter in the regiment, and as far as she was concerned, the best sword fighter period. The Duke seemed rather skilled as well, however, and knocked Athos on the ground twice…simply not hard enough to _keep_ him down.

As they watched, the Duke seemed to get a little more tired, and Athos knocked him down on his back and then knocked his sword out of his hand, moving his to point at the Duke’s throat. It was clear that he won, and Treville spoke up to make him stop. Clara wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but the Duke looked terrified and with a sudden swipe, Athos cut the Duke’s chest. That was the second sign to Clara that it was a duel—the first to draw blood wins—the first being that everyone was simply watching them. Porthos clapped Athos on the back for winning and Treville got in his face, Clara ushering for Marina to follow her away.

They weren’t supposed to be there, and Clara would ask all about this later.

For now, she simply wanted to give Anne and Christine the space that they needed, and she knew that could not be done unless she and Marina did different tasks. They had get-togethers to plan and dresses to check in on, and it was alright because they also got to check in with _each other_. So much happened in a regular day, and so much of their time lately had been filled with other people, and right now they could talk to each other about anything their hearts desired.

“Why do you think they were dueling?” Marina asked as they went to check on the dresses first.

Clara gave a little shrug. “I’m not entirely sure. Though, the Duke _has_ been convinced that we have been out to kill him since the shooting. Perhaps he was over-reacting.”

“Challenging the best swordsman in the regiment? Yes. He was over-reacting,” Marina laughed, shaking her head a little bit.

It was well known that no one could beat Athos, but they both supposed that it was possible the Duke didn’t know that. When looking at Porthos and Athos next to one another, while most would agree Porthos was the most _attractive_ , he was also the most _intimidating_. When faced with a choice of who to duel between Porthos and Athos, Athos would be the one that was chosen, if only because people misjudged him. The Duke had probably learned that the hard way.

“Perhaps they were just letting off steam,” Clara suggested.

Marina laughed at that. “If that were the case, I do not think that Athos would dare cut him.”

“That is how a duel works, Marina.”

“Even a Musketeer wouldn’t dare that in a friendly duel if they were just letting off steam…”

Clara felt like she couldn’t really argue with that, but she also knew that Athos had been dealing with a lot lately, and he could have lost his head. While he was the one that kept his calm the most out of the five, his ex wife was back and had tried to kill him, the woman he was courting wasn’t the happiest with him, and the others knew that he was nobility now. There was a _lot_ on his plate, especially with this shooting on top of it all, and Clara wondered for a moment: was his head screwed on straight?

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Athos wasn’t sure he wanted to apologize to the Duke of Savoy, but Treville had made it quite clear that he hadn’t behaved the way that he should have. He had taken far too much pleasure besting the Duke like that, but Treville thought that it had been too much and that he was igniting a reason to start a war. Everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells around the Duke, and while Athos understood on some level, he was still upset that the Duke of Savoy had potentially led an attack to slaughter Musketeers in their sleep like a _coward_.

Getting dressed, Athos went to go and talk to the Duke, finding him with his envoy. He just wanted to get this over with and go back to training and perhaps see how Clara was fairing since she was stuck in this as well with the Queen. Sometimes he felt like perhaps he had fallen too hard, too fast, but this was a five year love in the making, and in order to make things right with her completely, he had to see the Duke. Taking Porthos with him to hide in the shadows, he hoped to kill two birds with one stone.

“I have come to apologize,” Athos told him, giving a little nod. “I was over-zealous.”

The Duke moved up closer to him and looked him over, trying to assess whether he was being genuine or not, and he was. Even if he’d been sent by someone else, the Duke felt like he could tell that the man was being sincere. That made him smile a little, knowing that Athos had absolutely nothing to gain by coming here and saying this.

“You won a fair fight,” the Duke responded before he turned to pull his shirt off, changing into another one and showing Athos that he had a scar on his back. The one that Aramis told him to look out for, which only made Athos angry, even though he concealed it. “You wanted to kill me. I saw it in your eyes. Why?”

Athos took a breath and shook his head. “You are mistaken. What motive could a Musketeer possibly have for wanting to kill the Duke of Savoy?”

Giving a bow, he nodded at the Duke and his envoy before he left, meeting up with Porthos in the hall. Not only had he heard the whole thing, but he’d seen the scar too—that meant that Marsac was right about the Duke, but it didn’t mean to Athos, that he was right about Treville. The man was more than just their Captain, and he couldn’t believe that such slander could have any merit at all. So, he sent Porthos to follow Monsieur Gontard, the Duke’s envoy, to see what he really knew.

While he did that, so they wouldn’t draw suspicion, Athos wandered through the corridors, smiling a little when he saw Clara. Even a little angry with him still, her whole face lit up when she saw him, and after they both glanced around, she motioned to an empty room and he followed her into it. Greeting her with a kiss, she hummed into it, making him smile more even when she pulled back, his arms automatically circling around her waist.

“I don’t have much time, I have to meet Marina to tell her of the extra fabric,” Clara explained, though she stole another kiss from his lips and sighed a little. “I don’t like being upset with you. These stolen moments are my favorite.”

Nodding, Athos pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know, ma chérie.”

“I saw you dueling the Duke,” she told him, nodding when he pulled back a little to make eye contact with her. “Marina and I were coming to check on a few things for Anne when we heard the swords. What exactly…?”

“He asked to duel me,” Athos began when she trailed off. “He firmly believes we’re trying to murder him and said that if I won he would go forward with trying to make a treaty. I do not believe him, but I have bought us some time.”

“Because you’re an _excellent_ swordsman,” Clara purred, wiggling her eyebrows and laughing a little as Athos closed the distance between them to kiss her again. She wanted to be angrier with him, for his dead wife not really being dead, but how could she be? His wife had been an assassin, liar and thief, and none of that was _his_ fault. “Just do me a favor?”

Nodding, Athos pulled her a little closer to him. “Anything.”

“Don’t get yourself killed,” Clara told him pointedly. “The Duke is not someone you should make an enemy with right now. Perhaps ever. He holds himself in such high regard that I can only imagine what he’ll do if you push the wrong button with him. One person has already tried to kill you this month, and I do not want to add another name to the list.”

“I’ll make the promise not to get killed by the Duke, if you promise to spend the night with me,” Athos whispered, chuckling when she gasped playfully and then she laughed too. “I prefer you next to me at night, is all.”

Rolling her eyes, Clara nodded. “Yes, of course that’s all. I’ll stay with you tonight.”

She wanted to point out that perhaps they should announcement an engagement and get married so she could spend the night with him _every_ night, but she kept her mouth shut. Clara wanted this to move at _his_ pace, and after a few more stolen kisses, Athos let her go and find her sister, and he went to Constance’s to meet with Marsac and the others (sans Porthos, who was still tailing Gontard). Aramis had been looking around for information, finding that the night of the massacre was the only night unaccounted for in the logs.

That was kind of fishy, even Athos had to admit that, but he would never believe Treville to be a traitor and would settle for nothing less than clear evidence. He let Marsac out of his restraints, however, because he had no reason to betray them now. Marsac wanted the truth as much as they did, so they headed for the Garrison to confront Treville, meeting up with Porthos there, not sure what they would find out. The problem was, the moment they started saying it was the Duke that attacked and not the Spanish raiding party that everyone had been told it was…Treville got a look on his face.

Walking up to him, Aramis made a face. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“The only thing that surprises me is your dereliction of duty,” he told them, angry. “Get back to your posts before I lose my temper.”

“Did you know it was the Duke?” Aramis asked, following him into his office with the others behind him.

“I am not accountable to you,” Treville responded.

“But you are to the men that died,” Aramis tried.

Taking his coat and hat off, Treville shook his head. “Careful, Aramis. You are in dangerous territory.”

“Not as dangerous as Savoy was for your men,” Porthos said after a pause.

It was obvious now that there was something that Treville was hiding because he would not give them a straight answer. That had Aramis outraged, but Athos and Nicolas still weren’t entirely convinced that this was the be-all, end-all of it. This was complicated, it had to be, but because he hadn’t been there to witness it all, Nicolas knew that they were going butt heads here and Athos was ready for it.

“Marsac is right. How much more proof do we need?” Aramis asked angrily.

Nicolas shook his head. “Treville didn’t admit anything.”

Aramis turned angrily to look at him as d’Artagnan agreed with him, Athos leaning against a post outside the office looking off into space. He didn’t know what to make of this and Porthos was keeping quiet, but it was obvious that things were about to get heated. Nicolas had no reasons to not trust Treville with every ounce of him, given that he and his late father had been so close, and Athos was still trying to figure out what he believed.

“He didn’t need to, it was written on his face,” Aramis told Nicolas angrily.

Nicolas moved closer to him. “How dare you?”

“The Captain is the finest man I’ve ever met,” Porthos added in, knowing where he stood now. “When it comes down to it, I’d rather be on his side than Marsac’s.”

“You may be content to do nothing,” Aramis began, shaking his head at them, “but I’m not.”

Watching him go out into the rain, the others took breaths and looked between them: well then.

**xXxXx**

**MARINA**

Visiting Constance for more cloth, Marina was trying her hardest to stay as far away from Marsac as was possible. Aramis might trust him because of what they’d been through together, but Marina didn’t trust him farther than she could throw him. She was especially weary of him when he started hitting on Constance and on herself, Marina fully alert when his wine-drunk self, took hold of Constance physically.

“Don’t touch me!” Constance told him firmly.

Marsac didn’t, however, let go. “Is one kiss too much to ask for, for one who has been so lonely?”

When Constance slapped him, Marina thought that might be the end of it, but instead he rose from his chair, and took hold of her. Marina was up just like that, pulling the knife from its holder under her skirts, d’Artagnan walking in to see her place the blade to Marsac’s throat and make him pause. This was one of the _many_ reasons that Nicolas had taught his sisters to defend themselves, and d’Artagnan looked Constance over as Marsac moved, looking at Marina as she held him at knife point, pressing the point into his neck a little.

“You touch her again, and I will slit your throat,” Marina promised, d’Artagnan coming to her side and motioning for her to move away from him.

Marsac shook his head, whimpering a little. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I used to be a Musketeer—a man of honor. I’m so sorry. Please don’t hurt me.”

Marina watched as d’Artagnan tied him back up in the other room, moving to her friend and looking her over before Constance brushed them both off. She didn’t want to be fussed over, and she went to tidy things up as d’Artagnan apologized for bringing her trouble, and Marina smiled a little. While she didn’t approve of this flirtation, she did appreciate d’Artagnan, and the man he was trying to be. He would protect Constance with his life, and she needed that…even if Marina was still convinced that Constance’s husband would do the same.

“I’ve never been so popular,” Constance teased as she smiled at d’Artagnan’s apology.

d’Artagnan nodded, hanging his head. “I just wish there was something I could do to make amends.”

Looking at him, Constance swallowed and then looked at Marina like she was asking her friend for permission somehow—permission Marina granted with a nod. They both were of the same mind here, and while it couldn’t be public knowledge, Marina only knew knives and swords, and when Constance spoke, she smiled brightly.

“Teach us how to shoot,” Constance told him, nodding when d’Artagnan looked to Marina too and then back to her. “My husband can never know, but it would be a way to make amends. I’m already learning sword fighting from Marina, but…”

Marina was nodding too. “Nicolas never taught Clara or I how to shoot. It would be a good skill to have.”

“Besides,” Constance continued, “why should men have all the fun? Why do women have to be dignified and lady like?”

There was a part of Marina that told her that this was a bad idea because it was throwing Constance and d’Artagnan together more intimately, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to learn how to shoot as well, and d’Artagnan seemed on board with the idea. It was obvious to Marina that it was because he wanted to spend more time with Constance, but she’d take it. They needed to be more prepared for this world of Musketeers that they were in, and d’Artagnan agreed.

They would learn how to shoot.

Beaming at them, Marina smiled at him and nodded some more as Constance went to go and put things away, swallowing. She took a deep breath as she made sure that Constance was out of range to hear what she was going to say next, turning to look d’Artagnan in the eye. There was a look in his eyes that told her that he knew what was coming next, but he made no move to cut her off, simply let her speak her mind…she appreciated that.

“I can see that you care for her, and I am all for it, but she’s a married woman,” Marina told him in a hushed tone. “Don’t hurt her.”

d’Artagnan gave her a look. “Hurt her? I would never.”

“Then be proper,” Marina responded with a shrug. “If you sully her reputation then I will never forgive you. I know that you wanted to be a Musketeer, but they are men of honor. Divorce is tricky for women, especially when they are common folk. Just…she’s important to me. Please respect her.”

“I respect her more than any other woman,” d’Artagnan admitted, but he knew what she was saying, and he nodded. “Of course, I will. Does this mean you’ll put in a good word for me with your sister? I do not want her to hate me forever.”

Laughing a little, Marina smiled at him. “She won’t hate you forever, d’Artagnan. The Musketeers believe in you, and they respect and trust you. Clara will see that in due time, she simply…Athos is her world. When you attacked him, you attacked her, and her pride won’t allow her to forget that. Just give her a little more time. She already favors you above most.”

He seemed rather pleased to hear that, but she knew he’d talk to her in his own time, and she needed to talk to Athos. Nicolas had talked to him already, but Marina wanted to make sure that Olivier Athos, Comte de le Fère, was going to make an honest woman out of her sister. She saw how they were with each other and she didn’t know anything about his dead wife still being alive, so she just saw a man healing. Afraid of the next step. She didn’t want to pressure him into anything too fast, she just wanted to know that someday, he was actually going to be her brother-in-law.

“Until then…how about a shooting lesson right now?” Marina asked him.

d’Artagnan smiled at her eagerness. “Soon. First, I have some Musketeer business to attend to, so, tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow it is,” Marina promised.

**xXxXx**

**ATHOS**

Even though he and Porthos had been originally sent to protect the Duke, he didn’t want their services anymore, so they returned to the Garrison. Seeing d’Artagnan there, they sat at the large table out front with him and ate some food, turning when they saw a horse. When the cloaked figure got down and removed her hood to reveal herself to be the Duchess of Savoy, they all bowed, and she gave them a quick nod.

“I have no time for explanations. I left my son with the Lady Clara Bordeaux and instructions to keep him occupied until I can make a hasty return,” she explained, which made Athos smile ever so slightly and then the look was wiped away. “There’s an important prisoner being held somewhere here in Paris.”

Athos nodded at her. “You mean Cluzet?”

“You know him?” The Duchess asked him quickly.

“Not exactly,” Porthos explained to her, “but we know where to find him.”

“The Duke is on his way to find him right now,” the Duchess explained, shaking her head. “For the sake of France, he must not discover him. Many lives are stake, including my own.”

Athos took a deep breath as he took the information in. “We can’t stop the Duke entering the prison.”

“Yeah, but,” Nicolas began, the wheels turning in his head too, “doesn’t mean he has to find him inside…”

That was a solid point, and Athos gave a little smile as he, Nicolas, Porthos and d’Artagnan headed with the Duchess to the prison where he was being held. They had to be quick to beat the Duke there, and they grabbed Cluzet, pulling him out of the cell and dressing up d’Artagnan as the guard as Nicolas and Porthos dragged Cluzet away and tossed one of their Musketeer cooks into the cell to pretend to be Cluzet. They had barely gotten that all done before Athos leaned against another door to pretend to be another guard, his hood up covering his face, so the Duke wouldn’t get suspicious from their duel together before, and they held their breaths a little as the Duke, Gontard and the Cardinal opened up the cell.

When they found that Cluzet was not in there, the Duke looked at Gontard with anger in his eyes, and they all knew he felt ashamed. He had just accused France of an unspeakable thing, and while they’d done it, he didn’t know that. In order to keep peace with France, he was going to have to sign the treaty now, and it all made sense. To keep peace with her brother’s country, the Duchess had done a great many things and perhaps Treville had let the information slip…to protect _her_. It was not how Nicolas or the others wanted to think of Treville, but it made a lot of diplomatic and military sense.

Now the Cardinal owed them, and how they’d collet, no one knew.

All they knew was that now they had to return to the palace, and while the Duchess had beaten them there, that was how it should be. She had played with her son a bit, Clara happy to have spent some time with him—Anne too—and Athos smiled at Clara as they made eye contact. After the treaty was signed, the Duke and Duchess would be going back to Savoy, and Athos was more than ready to just spend some time with the woman that he loved.

When they got to the Garrison, Treville explained that he had been mislead and that it was the _Cardinal_ that had led the Duke to believe the Musketeers were coming to assassinate him. They had to imprison Cluzet, a Spanish spy, to save the Duchess, and the misunderstanding had led to Aramis having to shoot Marsac. No one was really sad to see him dead except for Aramis, but he and Treville were mostly made up. So when d’Artagnan said he had someplace to be, everyone let him go and split up, Athos smiling more when he got to his house and saw a familiar cloaked woman waiting for him.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting,” Athos told Clara, groaning when she kissed him.

Letting him get them inside, Clara kept kissing him after he shut the door behind them. “I almost deserve it for making you wait for more than stolen moments for the last two weeks.”

“I deserved that,” Athos responded, pulling back to look at her lovingly. “What say you, we have some dinner and catch up before I undoubtedly have my way with you?”

“You are a cad,” Clara laughed, but she nodded at him. “Please. I would love some dinner.”


End file.
